BENGALURU: With pregnancies among girls aged 10-18 years associated with increased risks of maternal complications, adverse birth outcomes, school dropouts and social vulnerability, the Karnataka health department on Tuesday ordered a mandatory audit for adolescent pregnancy cases.
All identified adolescent pregnancies should be mandatorily reported by all government and private health establishments on the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH ) platform, according to the government order dated April 7.
It said the audit is aimed at checking the age at marriage, educational status, school attendance, awareness on reproductive health, access to contraception and counselling services, socio-economic and family vulnerabilities and linkages with health programmes such as Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).
“According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 50% of adolescent pregnancies are unintended. The National Health Mission (NHM) and RKSK emphasise strengthening adolescent health services through counselling, awareness and access to reproductive health services.
However, the occurrence of teenage pregnancies indicates the need for a systematic mechanism to review such cases to identify determinants such as early marriage, education discontinuation, social vulnerability and gaps in service delivery,” said the order issued by Pradeep Kumar BS, under secretary of the health and family welfare department.
Kumar said the government has examined the proposal to introduce a mandatory audit for adolescent pregnancy cases across the state through the existing public health system to facilitate early identification, counselling and preventive interventions through convergence with allied departments.
The committee will be headed by the taluk-level health officer, who will be the chairperson. The medical officer of the primary health centre will be the member secretary. The panel will also have a health inspector, an ASHA supervisor, an anganwadi supervisor and a school representative (wherever applicable).
Further, counselling services through counsellors and Sneha Centre, provision of contraceptive services and pregnancy testing kits, identification and mapping of vulnerable adolescent girls, including school dropouts, migrants and socially vulnerable households, are the recommended measures to be taken through the existing health system, along with counselling for medical termination of pregnancy (MTP).
The district health officer (DHO) at the district level and the deputy director at the state level are responsible for monitoring of the audit as well as implementation of other directions.
Deputy commissioners at the district level and mission director, National Health Mission at the state level will hold periodic reviews.