Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Program

Venezuela has a birth rate of 22% from women between the ages of 15 to 19, one of the highest rates in Latin America and the Caribbean. When a girl becomes pregnant, her life can change radically. Her education may end and her job prospects diminish, making her more vulnerable to poverty and exclusion.

 

In 2015, Degania Foundation funded a program to prevent teenage pregnancies in Soledad, a small city in Venezuela located in the south of the state of Anzoategui, next to the Orinoco River. We have partnered with the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, to create this program with the aim to reduce pregnancies on young people from 10 to 19 years of age.

 

Early pregnancy is a consequence of little or no access to school, information or health care. We have focused on the protection and fulfilment of girls’ rights.

 

Since the program started in 2015, we have trained over 1.500 people between teens, doctors, educators and leaders with formal education programs and over 1.600 people between teens and parents in community programs promoting sexual and reproductive rights. 

 

We have opened up 2 doctor’s office where we have provided specialized medical care to over 1.300 teenage girls per year, as well as given them additional tools to manage their reproductive health.