CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY IN RWANDA

Case of Kirehe District

Abstract

This study is about analysis of causes and consequences of teenagers pregnant in Kirehe District of Rwanda. The objective of this study was to determine the causes of teenage pregnancy and to identify the challenges faced by communities in Kirehe District. These were to look into the perspective of sexual factors, ignorance on health reproductive and influence of electronic media, peers pressure, unmet economic needs as independent variables that would lead to blind sex involvement with consequences of school dropout, poor education, poverty and family conflict as dependent variables of the study. Data were collected using questionnaire and interview from teenagers pregnant and local authorities such as Mayor. Sample size of 240 respondents was drawn from a total target population of 600 using Yamane formula. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse data. The findings revealed that the cultural barriers; low level of education, Electronic media, unmeet economic needs and lack of information on health reproductive among the respondents have much influence on teenage pregnancy. The study concluded that teenage pregnancy would have caused many problems to young girls that led to slow down their socio-economic development in Kirehe District such as school dropping out, family stigma and conflics, impediments to mental and physical development, poverty. The study recommended health reproductive education and strict application of law teenage violence-based.