Health ministry, PAHO launch campaign to end child pregnancies

The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Healthy Life Course Unit of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), launched a national awareness campaign, “Let’s End Child Pregnancies”, at the Sophia Health Centre on Wednesday.
The campaign begins Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Week 2025 and aims to reduce adolescent pregnancies and promote safe motherhood.
The awareness campaign is also focused on preparing a comprehensive guide through a “safe motherhood approach’ while highlighting the importance of family planning, prenatal care, and healthy lifestyle choices.

During the campaign, various topics were covered, including safe adolescent pregnancy and prevention strategies, essential practices for mothers and babies, emergency signs during pregnancy, and referral pathways.
A ‘Roadmap tool’ was used to engage adolescent mothers in understanding the stages of a healthy pregnancy and the benefits of family planning.
The interactive session included open discussions, a question-and-answer segment, and practical advice from healthcare professionals on labour, breastfeeding, and postnatal care.
Valuable information on registering newborns for post-natal clinics and the importance of continued family planning support was provided by the nurses of the Sophia Health Centre.
With similar activities scheduled to take place across various health facilities in Guyana, this reaffirms the government and PAHO commitment to supporting adolescent health initiatives.
This further aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to reduce teenage pregnancies and improve maternal health outcomes by 2030.
According to PAHO, Guyana continues to face challenges with adolescent birth rates, which remain higher than the average for the Latin America and Caribbean region.
While the adolescent age-specific fertility rate has declined from 80.5 births per 1,000 girls aged 15–19 in 2010 to 66.6 in 2021, the numbers still reflect a pressing public health concern.
Nurses at the Sophia Health Centre also provided valuable information on registering newborns for post-natal clinics and the importance of continued family planning support.
This campaign is part of a broader national effort, with similar activities scheduled to take place at health facilities across the country throughout the month.