First Lady, Esther Lungu says she is saddened with the high numbers of teenage mothers being recorded in the country.
Mrs Lungu said it is not right for young girls to become mothers at the expense of education because the trend is retarding development.
She was speaking at Nangoma Mission Hospital yesterday where she also presented hampers to 14 babies who were born on Christmas day at the health institution.
Mrs Lungu advised the young mothers to go back to school after weaning their babies.
And Mumbwa Town Council Chairperson, Gracious Hamatala, said they have embarked on serious sensitisation programs against child marriages and teenage pregnancies to encourage girls to prioritize education in life.
Mr. Hamatala said the move was showing remarkable positive response although a lot needed to be done over the vice.
Earlier, Mumbwa Acting Medical Superintendent, Peter Simoonga, told the First Lady, Esther Lungu that the mission hospital was fully funded by government.
Dr. Hamatala however, said the health institution faces a few challenges including shortage of staff and equipment in some departments.
The First Lady later in the afternoon visited Mumbwa District Hospital and presented hampers to 16 new born babies recorded at the health institution between Christmas Eve and midday.
She also donated assorted foodstuffs to hospital management to supplement food rations for patients.
The foodstuffs included several bags of rice, bottles of cooking oil and biscuits among others.
And in receiving the donation, Mumbwa District Medical Superintendent, Vincent Mulenga thanked Mrs Lungu and her foundation trust for the donation.
Dr. Mulenga said the food donated will go a long way in supplementing food rations at the health institution.
He said patients were only being fed porridge for breakfast before the rice was donated to the hospital.
Okay so…
He said patients were only being fed porridge for breakfast before the rice was donated to the hospital. How do you expect patients to eat rice for breakky. Porridge is good for patients and breakky at the same time. A patient feeding on rice must be discharged because he/she is too heathy to be admitted.
Worried? You (the First Lady) and the Vice President have never worked together or seen together or operated together to fight for the plight of girls and women in Zambia. What a shame!
We must ban marriage before the age of 25.
I’m 27 and not married and this should be a benchmark. Marry around 27-35
Thanks
BB2014,2016
At 27 your package looks ugly. 21 yo is good.
@1.3 is another lying scumbag kachasu drinker who’s been 27yrs for a decade.
Condoms are very effective in pregnancy prevention.
Teenage mothers = tomorrow’s kachasu brewers and their kids = tomorrow’s gangsters.
Make motherhood great again.
This Dr Mulenga’s utterances are very suspect. Is this a real doc? One never knows these days. The other day we heard about teachers with fake qualifications. Teenage pregnancies are just too common these days. Something wrong with our cultural values, morals and education. Who is pumping these kids anyway? Lock them up!
First Lady ask C Taayali..to stop doing kids. Poverty has eroded our morals.
I respect the first lady. Keep speaking for vulnerable girls mama Esther.
My dear speaking alone will not take us anywhere, what we need is action. Maama Esther is the first lady and as such she can influence the husband in doing something about the plight of vulnerable girls,we need policies to be put in place and implemented and not just donations and talk talk talk. I like Maama Esther but I feel she can do much more.
no matter how educated these bitter souls become , their brains become overshadowed by tribal emotions
The answer is sex education. But people will resist because of “morality”. With sex ed teenage pregnancy, abortions and child abandonment would drop considerably but people are so short sighted and petty.
Agreed + poverty reduction
With the likes of Chilufya Tayali on the loose, under 15yrs old girls are at great risk!
Saying things to suit the environment, after this she will forget about it and move on. Dont tell me this is news to her.
Spot on
Kaz, 100% correct. He needs to be caged!!!
It is called PR and is a normal part of politics, where the President and First Lady are shown to spend a lot of time working to stay in touch with the people who support them.
While African leaders still do it the old fashioned way, Europeans politicians in France, UK, Greece and even Italy now hire experts in the field to run their campaigns and manage their reputations via popular media outlets.
There are many factors to this problem Madam Lungu. Some of them are highlighted below.
1. There is too much poverty in Rural areas. Girls are lured into having sex with boys for just K20 so that they can buy second hand pants
2. There are no recreational facilities in most rural areas to make our girls busy and focused.
3. In case you did not know, having children in rural areas is what most girls envy and they compete for it. After all, all her friends have children, what is she waiting for?
4. They know that after delivering, they will still go back to school. the Government encourages that.
5. Some of the girl children in rural Zambia have no role models apart from their Mothers patronizing taverns.
6. Condoms are expensive in rural standards. A K5 cannot be spent on condoms…
iwe Dr Mulenga, porridge is for dietary calories so is rice for dietary energy. really you want both for breakfast meal.. or your concern is having a variety of cereals?
You should as well talk to the boys who empregnant them
Sorry Mama Lungu. Farai Liwewe is doing an amazing job raising the awareness you are raising. She is on Facebook if you want to collaborate. She needs all the help she can get. She has the knowledge and you have the resources. Its a win win!