Teenage pregnancies cannot be solved if parents are not actively involved – Pastor Kolivuso

There is a rise in teenage pregnancies and it cannot be solved with parents not being actively involved in giving their children sex education at home.

This has been highlighted by Asia and Pacific for Every Home for Christ Regional Director Pastor Manasa Kolivuso who says the problem is because our society sees sex as a taboo subject and as long as this exists, the problem will worsen.

While speaking to fijivillage News, he says our children know more about sex now than the average parents as they are exposed to it via the internet and do not have to go elsewhere to watch it as it is in their hands on their mobile phones.

Kolivuso says we have to break this barrier now as parents need to come out of their shells and talk about sex openly and candidly with their children, telling them the consequences of premarital sex encounters or promiscuity.

The Pastor says it has to be discussed openly because what the children are hearing can be distorted views of sex and when they hear it from their parents at home first and in church, they have something to measure against what they hear from elsewhere.

He is encouraging youths that it is okay to say NO to sex as virginity is a sacred gift that you only give once to the person you marry.

Meanwhile, there have been concerning statistics released by the Health Ministry’s Health Information Unit, which show an alarming rate of teenage pregnancies within the iTaukei community.

The Ministry says the statistics on teenage pregnancies were gathered from 2018 to 2021, with a particular focus on children between the age of 13 to 19 years of age.

They say during this period, the statistics revealed that 1,057 teenagers were of iTaukei descent, 178 Fijians were of Indian descent, and 44 from other races fell pregnant.

It says the majority of these teenage pregnancies within the iTaukei community were from the Central Division, recording 636 cases, the West recorded 350 cases, the North recorded 60 cases, and 11 cases in the Eastern Division.

Health Minister, Dr Atonio Lalabalavu says the statistics are indeed alarming, and it will take a whole Government and community approach to nip these social problems in the bud.