Editorial: Teenage Pregnancies, a Current Global Health and Social Problem

摘要

In Kirchengast's article of this issue, the author gave a comprehensive review of the problem and consequences of teenage pregnancies. Adolescents, aged 15 to 19 years, gave birth to 17 million infants in 1997, of which 16 million were born in the developing world, where 15% to 20% of all births were to adolescent mothers [1]. Moreover, 85% of adolescent women are in the developing world and 25% of all maternal deaths occur in this age group [1,2]. Although birth rates have dropped for adolescents in most developed countries, in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, only modest declines have been reported [2]. Thereby, adolescent pregnancy continues to be a challenging public health issue around the world, mainly in developing countries.