An Overview of Adolescent Pregnancy in Yaoundé, Cameroon

Background: Adolescent pregnancy is high risk and every area should have data specific to it. We here attempted to determine the characteristics of adolescent pregnancy in Cameroon, with special reference to antenatal care (ANC). Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in four secondary level hospitals in Yaounde, Cameroon from March to May 2022. Our study included adolescent pregnant females between ages 10 and 19 who received prenatal/post-partum care at these facilities. Results: We studied 101 adolescent pregnant females (pregnant or post-partum). The mean age was 17.6 ± 1.3 years. Most of them were single, Christian, had a secondary level of education, lived in a two-parent home and were from the Central region. ANC was provided by midwives for most of them but prenatal work-up was not done most of the time. Overall quality of ANC was considered poor. Conclusions: Adolescent pregnant females were mainly high-school students and lived at home with both parents. ANC quality was considered poor. These data may be important to improve reproductive health care and may be generalizable to some extent.