Understanding the Experiences of Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents in Blantyre, Southern Malawi.

Abstract

Close to one in three adolescent girls in Malawi begin childbearing before their 19th birthday. Early childbearing has significant negative implications for girls' health and wellness. It starts a cycle of social exclusion that often begins with their expulsion or voluntary withdrawal from school with dire socio-economic consequences. Children born to adolescent girls are also vulnerable, and excluded from full societal benefits because of their parents' poor socioeconomic status. The Centre for Social Research (CSR), University of Malawi, and the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) implemented a mixed-methods study in Blantyre, Malawi, to understand how early and unintended pregnancy culminates in the social exclusion of adolescent mothers. We also explored interventions that could ensure their education and economic empowerment. This brief highlights findings from the study.