File
The Eastern Cape Health Department said a 13-year-old girl was one of 15 teenagers who gave birth on New Year’s Day.
MEC Nomokosazana Meth said there were a total of 246 babies born across the province with the first child born at 12.05 am at the Community Health Centre at Xhora, formerly, Elliotdale.
She said the 13-year-old girl gave birth at Sipetu Hospital in Kwa Bhaca (Mount Frere), with the child weighing in at 2.7 kilograms. The teens are aged between 13 and 19.
Meth said of the number of New Year’s babies, 133 were girls and 113 boys.
In congratulating the new moms, MEC Meth said the Department remains concerned at “the rate at which adolescent girls” were falling pregnant.
“We are calling on young girls and boys to abstain from sex or use condoms or an appropriate contraceptive if they are already sexually active,” she said.
