Teenage motherhood in Latin America and the Caribbean. Trends, problems and challenges

Teenage motherhood: pregnant with consequences.This issue sets out to show the situation of teenage pregnancy in the Latin American and Caribbean region. The central article draws attention to the persistently high levels of adolescent fertility, which are closely linked to conditions of increased poverty and vulnerability and lead to difficult situations for the young mother, her family and her offspring.

Motherhood wage penalties and labour market segmentation: Evidence from Argentina

Includes bibliography.

Social Panorama of Latin America 1998

Includes bibliography

Reduction of infant mortality in Latin America and the Caribbean: uneven progress requiring a variety of responses

Infant mortality has unquestionably declined throughout Latin America over the last decade, even under conditions of low and unstable economic growth and a meagre overall reduction of poverty in the region. The declines in infant mortality vary from one country to another. The persistence of high infant mortality rates is related to low income, teenage pregnancy and lack of access to basic services, as well as to the lack of appropriate health care infrastructure. At the same time, both the rural population as a whole, and the indigenous and Afro-descendent population in particular, has fallen markedly behind, with overall infant mortality rates much higher than among the rest of the population. Moreover, the cause and incidence of death in this age group have been changing according with the changes in neonatal and post-neonatal deaths. Our editorial line-up has created space for opinions from adolescents and youth, as well as from policy experts on the problem, its causes, and approaches to dealing with infant mortality. We also offer succinct information on a broad range of programmes—utilizing various interventions—in different countries of the region regarding maternal and infant care, in an attempt to bring about a reduction in mortality.

Maternidad adolescente en América Latina y el Caribe: tendencias, problemas y desafíos

Maternidad adolescente: un tema preñado de consecuencias.En esta ocasión queremos mostrar la situación de la maternidad adolescente en América Latina y el Caribe. Así, en el artículo central se destaca que en la región la fecundidad en la adolescencia es alta y no desciende, que se relaciona con contextos de mayor pobreza y desprotección, y que entraña consecuencias problemáticas para la joven madre, su familia y su prole.

ECLAC Notes Nº 41

Latin America and the Caribbean Will Grow 4.3% this Year How to Ensure Social Policies are Both Efficient and Effective Opinion: Hopeful Economic Scenario in Latin America and the Caribbean, by José Luis Machinea Highlights: High Youth Unemployment Creates Uncertainty Among Youth, by Jurgen Weller Indicators Teenage Pregnancies more Frequent Among Poor Girls Recent Titles Calendar

Socio-demographic analysis of youth in the Caribbean- a three country case study

Many Caribbean youth are doing reasonably well. They live in loving and caring families, attend school and are involved in various social activities in their communities. The health and well-being of the children and youth1 in the Caribbean is, and has been, the centre of attention of many studies, meetings and policy directives set at the regional, subregional and national levels. Programmes have been put in place to address the basic needs of young children in the areas of health and education and to provide guidance and directives to youth and adolescents in the area of professional formation and transition to adulthood. Critical issues such as reproductive health and family planning combined with access to education and information on these topics have been promoted to some extent. And finally, the Caribbean is known for rather high school enrolment rates in primary education that hardly show any gender disparities. While the situation is still good for some, growing numbers of children and youth cannot cope anymore with the challenges experienced quite early in their lives. Absent parents, instable care-taking arrangements, violence and aggression subjected to at home, in schools and among their friends, lack of a perspective in schools and the labour-market, early sexual initiation and teenage pregnancies are some of those issues faced by a rising number of young persons in this part of the world. Emotional instability, psychological stress and increased violence are one of the key triggers for increased violence and involvement in crime exhibited by ever younger youth and children. Further, the region is grappling with rising drop-out rates in secondary education, declining quality schooling in the classrooms and increasing numbers of students who leave school without formal certification. Youth unemployment in the formal labour market is high and improving the quality of professional formation along with the provision of adequate employment opportunities would be critical to enable youth to complete consistently and effectively the transition into adulthood and to take advantage of the opportunities to develop and use their human capital in the process. On a rather general note, the region does not suffer from a shortage of policies and programmes to address the very specific needs of children and youth, but the prominent and severe lack of systematic analysis and monitoring of the situation of children, youth and young families in the Caribbean does not allow for targeted and efficient interventions that promise successful outcomes on the long term. In an effort to assist interested governments to fill this analytical gap, various initiatives are underway to enhance data collection and their systematic analysis2. Population and household censuses are conducted every decade and a variety of household surveys, such as surveys of living conditions, labour force surveys and special surveys focusing on particular sub-groups of the population are conducted, dependent on the resources available, to a varying degree in the countries of the region. One such example is the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)-funded Multi-Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) that assess the situation of children and youth in a country. Over the past years and at present, UNICEF has launched a series of surveys in a number of countries in the Caribbean3. But more needs to be done to ensure that the data available is analyzed to provide the empirical background information for evidence-based policy formulation and monitoring of the efficiency and effectiveness of the efforts undertaken.

Niñas y adolescentes en América Latina y el Caribe: deudas de igualdad

El presente estudio entrega un panorama sobre las desigualdades que experimentan las niñas y las adolescentes de la región y pretende aportar a la discusión sobre políticas que busquen eliminar todas las formas de discriminación que les afecten. Para ello, se adopta una perspectiva enfocada en las vulnerabilidades específicas que niñas y adolescentes enfrentan, reconociendo la diversidad de sus identidades e identificando las barreras que es necesario derribar. Esto es un imperativo, por una parte, para su ejercicio de derechos, la adquisición de activos y acceso a oportunidades y la construcción de su autonomía y ciudadanía, y por otra parte, para el desarrollo social y económico de los países en el presente y futuro, comprendiendo que las desigualdades que se padecen desde la infancia, además de ser fuente de injusticia en esta etapa de la vida, se proyectan y amplifican hasta la edad adulta. La información que se presenta busca aportar al diseño de políticas públicas pertinentes y eficaces que permitan garantizarles la realización de sus derechos con miras a cimentar en la región un desarrollo con igualdad, más aún en el contexto de la recientemente aprobada Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible (ONU, 2015).