Mannequin is the message

14 November 2014 - 02:39 By ©The Telegraph and Staff reporter
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
BABY BLUES: Mannequins of pregnant schoolgirls in a Caracas shopping mall stirred debate about sex education.
BABY BLUES: Mannequins of pregnant schoolgirls in a Caracas shopping mall stirred debate about sex education.
Image: CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS

Two children's charities in Venezuela have created shop mannequins that resemble schoolgirls with bulging stomachs to draw attention to the country's adolescent pregnancy rate.

The three mannequins are dressed in the blue uniforms worn by schoolchildren in the country until the age of 15.

Fundana and Construyendo Futuros, the charities behind the campaign, claim shock tactics are needed to control the teenage pregnancy rate in Venezuela, which is the highest in South America, with 23% of all babies born to girls under 18.

Although Venezuela's socialist government said education and children's rights have improved enormously during its 15 years in power, NGOs say sex education needs to be improved and parents need to take the subject more seriously.

The display runs for a month and might be extended to other malls in the nation of 30million people.

Teenage pregnancy is a huge problem in South Africa as well.

According to the Department of Health, in 2012-2013 8% of South African pregnancies were of girls under 18.

The BBC has reported that about 182000 high school pupils - most of them poor and black - become pregnant every year in South Africa, many of the new mothers being as young as 14.

The Human Sciences Research Council estimates that 18% of schoolchildren and students in this country either get pregnant or make someone pregnant each year.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi was recently quoted as saying that, in the 2012-2013 financial year, 89000 abortions were done in public hospitals.

"The demand [for abortions] is too high and it's an abnormal demand.

"Many young girls do it two times a year.

"It's something that should be rare. [The young girls] believe that if you don't want a baby you fall pregnant first then you go and remove it.

"They don't know that if you don't want a baby there's a way you can stop being pregnant."

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now