Zimbabwe should introduce digital health records from birth to help tackle teenage pregnancies, unsafe abortions and child marriages, a gender and inclusion specialist has said.
Speaking to CITE, Thando Gwinji argued that while the country has made progress in strengthening child protection laws and promoting awareness around the age of consent, policymakers must also confront the realities facing adolescents.
She said many girls under the age of 18 are already sexually active and require access to reproductive health services, despite laws intended to protect minors from early sexual activity.
“We are moving very well as a country through the age of consent and acknowledging that girls under the age of 18 should not be indulging in sexual activities. Regardless, they are indulging in it and they need to be protected either way,” said Gwinji.
On this topic
Her remarks come amid ongoing concern over teenage pregnancies and unsafe abortions in Zimbabwe.
According to Gwinji, government reports and recent studies continue to point to worrying trends among adolescent girls.
“We still have an alarming rate of teenage pregnancies and abortions and this is proven through documents that the government has written. Not very long ago, we conducted a teenage fertility study and it proved that a lot of girls commit unsafe abortions,” she said.
She said the prevalence of teenage pregnancies and unsafe abortions highlights the need to ensure young people have access to reproductive health services, including contraceptives, while also putting in place safeguards for minors.
Gwinji proposed a digital health record system that would track an individual’s interactions with the healthcare system from birth, creating a lifelong medical history accessible to health professionals and policymakers.
Under the proposal, information such as immunisations, clinic visits and access to reproductive health services would be recorded electronically.
“In light of these realities, it is necessary for girls to access contraceptives when they need them. However, the approach should be that when they are underage, there needs to be some form of monitoring,” she said.
“Instead, we can have digitised health records from birth, such that when one is born, they have a birth card that records the many times the child has gone to health facilities to seek immunisation or contraceptives throughout their life.”
She said such a system would provide valuable data on adolescent health trends, enabling authorities to better understand when young people begin accessing reproductive health services and to design interventions based on evidence.
“From that record, we would also know from what age a person started accessing contraceptives. We should be moving with what we preach when we say we want every aspect of our lives to be digitalised,” said Gwinji.
“When that is done, it will be easier to track the health of young women as they are taking contraceptives. We would have readily available statistics and know how to curb sexual activities among underage girls.”
However, she cautioned that digitisation alone would not solve the challenges facing vulnerable children and adolescents.
Gwinji said poverty remained one of the leading drivers of child marriages and other forms of vulnerability affecting young girls.
“What we should be doing, more than just digitalising the health sector, is getting rid of poverty because most child marriages happen because of poverty,” she said.
Her comments add to growing calls for both technological innovation and social interventions to address the complex factors contributing to teenage pregnancies, unsafe abortions and child marriages in Zimbabwe.
Support CITE’s fearless, independent journalism. Your donation helps us amplify community voices, fight misinformation, and hold power to account. Help keep the truth alive. Donate today
Leave a Reply