Adolescent Pregnancy in Cameroon: A Five Year Retrospective Chart Review to Determine its Prevalence

Author(s): Frankline Sevidzem Wirsiy

Background and aim: Adolescent pregnancy remains a major determining factor of maternal and child mortality, and to vicious cycles of poverty and ill-health. It is in this light that, we sought to determine the prevalence of adolescent pregnancy in the Kumbo West Health District of Cameroon.

Methods: This was a retrospective chart review. A retrospective record of adolescent girls who attended the general gynaecology outpatient departments as well as family planning units of six health facilities in the Kumbo West Health District of Cameroon were reviewed for a 5 year period (2012-2017). Data was analyzed with SPSS version 21.

Results: Within the study period (2012-2017), out of 950 records, 886 adolescent girls visited the general gynaecology outpatient departments for pregnancy issues. We got a total of 750 recorded confirmed cases of adolescent pregnancy over the years out of a total of population of 25120 adolescent girls that make up the Kumbo West Health District (KWHD) population. This gave us an adolescent pregnancy prevalence of 26%.

Conclusion: The study area has a high adolescent pregnancy rate compared to other communities in Cameroon. Our results suggest that a guide and the formulation of the content of future adolescent-friendly preventive and control programmes should be considered. These programmes would be able to enhance a more practical response to addressing adolescent pregnancies and thus guide the progress towards curbing its incidence in Cameroon and particularly in the study area. Also, a mhealth intervention is urgently needed in the study area.