Prevalence of early pregnancie in neighborhoods Basoko-Rail (Ngaliema commune), Lisala and Salongo (Kintambo commune) in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Résumé

According to the World Health Organization, nearly 16 million adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 gave birth worldwide each year. About 95% of these births occured in developing countries. This study aimed at  determining the prevalence of early teenage pregnancies in the city of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRG). This was  a prospective study for descriptive purposes, carried out in the Basoko-Rail (commune of Ngaliema), Lisala and Salongo (Commune of Kintambo) districts in the city of Kinshasa  over the period from March to May 2019. The prevalence of early pregnancies was 25%, of which 85.3% were primigest and 14.7% multigest. The level of education was significantly linked to the occurrence of early pregnancies (p˂0.05). The main source of information on adolescent sexuality  was the Internet and social media (40.1%); the dropout rate afterpregnancy was 51.5%.  There is a need of sexual and health education of adolescents and minors; creating centers for psychological care for victims of early pregnancy may also be required.