The EUROsociAL+ Gender Equality area at Expertise France supports El Salvador, Uruguay, Mexico and Panama in the prevention of teen pregnancy.
The issue of the prevention of teen pregnancy is a concern for El Salvador. As a comparison, the fertility rate of girls between 15 and 19 years old is 69 births per 1,000 girls in El Salvador, while in France it is 9 (World Bank, 2017). This protocol was officially presented in three cities in El Salvador in early December.
In the context of the European programme EUROsociAL+, the Gender Equality Unit, represented by Expertise France, worked with the Salvadoran Ministry of Education on actions to draw up and implement a model on equality in public schools. This action included the preparation of a protocol to prevent pregnant girls and adolescents or mothers from leaving school. In this country, which is still mainly rural and where abortion is prohibited (even in the case of rape or danger to the health of the mother or child), the figures are extremely high: the World Bank estimates the fertility rate of girls between 15 and 19 years old to be 69 births per 1,000 girls.
A tool available for schools
In this context, a protocol was developed with the support of an expert to establish the coordination and monitoring of girls and their families. This tool is available to schools to help support girls who are pregnant or who are already mothers. Its aim is to combat the social stigmatisation of these pregnant girls or mothers, to provide them with psychosocial assistance, to encourage the father to assume his responsibility if he is in the same age group and, in turn, to initiate criminal proceedings in case of rape and help them build or rebuild a plan for their studies and their lives.
This protocol also recommends creating discussion groups for adolescent girls, ensuring a follow-up for families, respecting confidentiality, and establishing institutional coordination in schools and locally with existing health services. It was presented in early December in the cities of Santa Ana, San Salvador and San Miguel.
The development of this protocol is part of a broader line of action of the EUROsociAL+ programme Gender Equality Unit, which currently supports four countries: El Salvador, Uruguay, Mexico and Panama, on the topic of the prevention of teen pregnancy.
Link to the protocol: https://eurosocial.eu/biblioteca/doc/protocolo-para-la-permanencia-escolar-de-las-ninas-y-adolescentes-embarazadas-que-ya-son-madres/
