A new report by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a U.S.-based think-tank on sexual issues, reveals that former communist countries have some of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the world. In fact, nine of the top ten out of 46 developed countries covered by the survey were from the old socialist block, with Estonia and Latvia ranking seventh and tenth respectively (see chart). Statistics on teenage pregnancy in Lithuania were unavailable, according to the report.
In contrast, figures were much lower for most Western European countries, and the trend over the last 25 years has been for declining adolescent pregnancy and birth rates throughout the industrialized world.
Riga gynecologist Dr. Ausma Lindermane said the high figures for Latvia bear out what she sees every day in her practice where a stream of young pregnant women come seeking help. The biggest problem, according to Lindermane, is that today's adults grew up under the communist system where attitudes about sex were so puritanical that, during a live TV discussion with Americans during the 80s, one woman claimed, "there is no sex in the Soviet Union." The subjects of these repressive attitudes are now the parents of teenagers with whom they do not talk about sexual issues.
As a result, the younger generation is very ignorant about sexuality.
"They hide their growing stomachs under sweaters, and when they come here they say, 'Doctor, my periods have stopped.' Even then they're scared to say that they're pregnant," said Lindermane.
Questionnaires Lindermane asks her patients to fill out show that 57 percent are afraid of contraception. 41 percent have sex "without thinking about why," 23 percent "out of curiosity," 22 percent "don't know" why they have sex, and only 9 percent admitted to having sexual intercourse because "they wanted to." Where young people learn about sex also shows how they become misinformed, according to the doctor: Forty-six percent find out from friends, 21 percent from various non governmental organizations, 19 percent from books, and only five percent from their parents. The doctor said that, far from there being any systematic sexual education campaign in schools, most of them don't touch the subject.
The situation is even more worrying, she believes, in a country where deaths every year outnumber births by almost two to one, and which also has a very high abortion rate. According to the Guttmacher report, Latvia also ranked tenth out of the country's surveyed for this indicator.
However, other doctors think the situation is not so alarming. According to data at the Riga Maternity Hospital, the proportion of births by women up to 19 years of age in all Latvia dropped from 11.1 percent of the total in 1995 to 8.6 percent in 1998. Staff at the hospital said the problem is most serious for low income families, but as a whole young people are not stupid. While there are not enough sexual education teachers at schools, NGO's such as Papardes zieds, a group which hands out condoms in the streets of Riga, help fill the gap.
"The young generation is motivated and educated, except perhaps those from families at the bottom of society where the children maybe don't even go to school. My 16-year-old daughter knows a lot more than I did at her age," said Dr. Dace Rezerberga, the hospital's chief gynecologist.
Lindermane's clinic is in the Grizinkalns district of Riga, a down-at-heel neighborhood with high rates of alcoholism and family breakdown. But while she admitted that this might mean the young women coming to her are less educated, she claimed there are many similarly deprived districts across Riga. She also claimed that a swing of a few percentage points from year to year does not alter the basic problem.
"Young people know what sex is, but they do not know what are the consequences of sex," she said.
Please enter your username and password.
2024 © The Baltic Times /Cookies Policy
