Need seen for creating more awareness on preventing childhood pregnancies in State

A large-scale campaign is needed to raise awareness about the high levels of childhood pregnancies in Belagavi.

There is a need for a large-scale campaign to create awareness about the higher levels of childhood pregnancies, member of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) Shashidhar Kosambe said in Vijayapura on Thursday.

He said that over 2,000 girl children of school-going age have become pregnant in Vijayapura district in the last one year.

“This is a matter of serious concern. Officials should take serious note of the situation,” he said.

“Karnataka recorded over 28,657 childhood pregnancies last year. Of these, the highest were in Bengaluru Rural, Belagavi and Vijayapura, all of which have recorded over 2,000 such cases. The lowest were in Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Kodagu. Udupi registered only 56 and Kodagu recorded 270,” he said.

Mr. Kosambe said that the State has over 50,000 officers who are empowered to stop child marriages and report PoCSO cases. “But they are not as active as expected,” he complained.

Reproductive Child Health Officer K.D. Gundabavadi said that most of these cases were results of child marriages and not sexual assault or other unwanted pregnancies.

He said that gradual changes like raising education and nutrition levels and creating higher awareness about child rights and social evils can help reduce child marriages and childhood pregnancies.