12-year-old amongst those who gave birth on New Year's Day
The Health Department has once again raised the alarm on the country's teenage pregnancy statistics following the births of over 650 babies on New Year's Day.
By 5 pm yesterday, more than 306 boys and 323 girls were welcomed in hospitals across the country.
In a statement, the department says a 12-year-old girl from the Eastern Cape is among the mothers who gave birth.
"The Department welcomes swift response by the Eastern Cape Health MEC, Ntandokazi Capa to investigate the circumstances which resulted in the pregnancy of this first youngest mother of the year. This follows a similar action taken in Limpopo which led to the arrest of a man who allegedly impregnated a 13-year-old girl," says national Health spokesperson, Foster Mohale.
In KZN, over 117 babies had been welcomed across the province by yesterday evening.
"We did have a couple of mothers who are teenage mothers, we want to say to communities that there is no way that as government on our own that we are going to come up with a program that does away with teenage pregnancies, says Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane.
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