Background
542 teenagers gave birth at De Soysa Hospital for Women in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 2008. This accounted for 6% of all delivieries that year. When adolescents are pregnant, they have different health needs, behaviours and expectations than adults do. De Soysa Hospital for Women lacked the skills and services to meet these needs.

About the project
This project was created to implement special care services for pregnant teenagers at De Soysa Hospital for Women. The project team selected pregnant teens from the different hospital wards and interviewed them to identify their problems and needs. The majority of the adolescents were aged 15-19 and many of them had left school early and had low socioeconomic status. All of them received health education sessions on nutrition and breast feeding as well as access to contraceptive counseling and services. A few of them were also referred to social services.

Results
One year after the project started, the hospital had registered and cared for almost 500 pregnant teenagers. The hospital has seen health improvements both for the pregnant teens and the newborns, with less delivery complications and fewer low-birth weight babies. The adolescents also received help and support related to the physical, psychological, social and financial issues they might be facing. The project team found that the demand for these services was higher than they expected, which is why they are now planning on opening a youth-friendly health centre within the hospital to ensure the sustainability of their work.

Year: 2010