Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Cummins for sharing time with me.

I welcome this opportunity to make some brief comments on this debate. The Irish Family Planning Association is a collaborating non-governmental organisation with the UNFPA and, as such, has assisted in the work of the all-party committee on sexual and reproductive rights, founded in 2000 by Mary Banotti, a former MEP and the former Senator, Mary Henry. I congratulate them on the work they have been doing since then.

In the short time available to me I want to outline a few facts on the experience of adolescent girls in developing countries and to ask the Minister of State to pay particular attention to this issue and perhaps discuss with Irish Aid how it can invest more strategically in the health education and livelihoods of adolescent girls to empower them to avoid the trap of becoming mothers while still children. This is a major issue in many developing countries. We need to ensure more programmes are put in place to target young first time mothers and to reach out to those young women in need of health services, including sexual and reproductive health services.

Pregnancy and childbirth related death is the number one killer of 15 to 19 year old girls worldwide. Each year nearly 70,000 teenage girls die and at least 2 million more are left with debilitating or chronic illnesses that can bring them lifelong suffering. It is estimated that every year 14 million adolescent girls between the ages 15 and 19 give birth and many other younger girls give birth who do not even feature in the records. High rates of adolescent pregnancy persist in many countries, even though the rate is declining worldwide. These are countries where poverty and poor health are endemic. On average, one third of young women in developing countries give birth before the age of 20. This puts these young women at huge risk. I ask that we focus on this group of young women in the aid we give and develop more strategic programmes to reach them in the countries to which we give aid. This is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa where more than 50% of adolescent girls give birth by the age of 20. In some sub-Saharan countries the figure is more than 70%. This happens particularly in countries where child marriage rates are high, including much of west, central and east Africa, and south Asia. It is an area on which we need to focus and if we do, we will substantially improve the lives of these young women.