Government dismantled program to reduce teenage pregnancy

The government dismantled the National Plan for the Prevention of Unintended Pregnancy in Adolescence (ENIA), which was created in 2017 with the aim of reducing the problem in 12 provinces, including La Rioja, Entre Ríos, Corrientes, Misiones, Chaco, Formosa, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Catamarca, Salta, Jujuy and the province of Buenos Aires, as they are the jurisdictions with the highest indicators of adolescent pregnancy. In the furor of reducing the state plant, the government did not renew the contracts of some 700 workers that the program had throughout the country: 100 in Nación and the rest distributed in 12 provinces where the plan was applied.” This is part of the disarmament that we want to do with this impoverishing state, which has been called the present state, for which slogans such as ‘the state takes care of you’ have been chosen, which the only thing it did was impoverish the people and favor friends of the officials in power,” said presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni. The objective of the plan was to educate about sexual health in secondary schools and community spaces, guarantee ILE/IVE in health centers and provide access to contraceptive methods. The former territorial manager of the Plan in La Rioja, Nahuel Carrizo, said in statements to radio The Uncovering that since 2018, unintended pregnancies have been reduced by 50%.” It proved to be effective, promoting the decrease in teenage pregnancy and improving access to the health system for this age group, not only in cases of sexual abuse and forced pregnancies. He was an example for the region,” lamented Fernando Zingman, former head of the Health Area of UNICEF Argentina, in an interview with Page/12. The programme was implemented in Buenos Aires, La Rioja, Entre Ríos, Corrientes, Misiones, Chaco, Formosa, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Catamarca, Salta and Jujuy.

Original source in Spanish