Health risks involving nutrition deficiency among the adolescent mothers and their babies are much more common than it was thought earlier, reveals a new study at the International Food Policy Research Institute.
Adolescent mothers recover slowly and often face more health complications than more mature mothers, said the study, titled ‘the nutrition and health risks faced by pregnant adolescents: insights from a cross-sectional study in Bangladesh.’
Risks range from anaemia to low birth weight affecting the lifelong well-being of a young mother and her child.
The study found that adolescent mothers scored significantly lower on a scale of postpartum functional abilities, which measures a new mother’s ability to take care of herself and her child in the weeks following childbirth.
A difference of nearly six points on the scale (51.6 ±18.4 vs. 57.5 ±18.2) means that younger mothers and their babies are especially vulnerable postpartum, shows the study.
Infants of adolescent mothers also demonstrated increased health risks, with a prevalence of underweight babies at 22.4 per cent, in contrast to adult mothers’ infants at 17.9 per cent, it finds.
The lead researcher Phuong Hong Nguyen, a research fellow at IFPRI, said, ‘Adolescent pregnancy is risky to mothers and babies alike, for health reasons, as well as economic reasons.’
‘Ensuring that these vulnerable groups receive adequate support to live healthy and productive lives requires constant evaluation of the services they receive,’ he said.
Bangladesh is among the top ten countries with the highest number of adolescent pregnancies, despite robust maternal services like maternal, newborn, and child health services, including pre-birth counselling and care.
The study says the benefits of these services are not shared equally among users.
Despite taking advantage of specifically designed interventions, adolescent mothers also showed less knowledge of the benefits of consuming calcium and following good dietary practices.
This may be explained by the fact that adolescent women demonstrate less autonomy, translating to less decision-making power in terms of food purchasing.
Study findings indicate that, it is clearly important to enhance family support and interventions for those who do become pregnant.
This article was originally published in The Daily New Age on 18 September 2017.