Thursday, June 25th, 2015. Aaron Humes Reporting: Teen pregnancy has always been a culturally complex issue that has been plaguing Belize.
One in every five live births in the Caribbean is to a female aged nineteen and younger, and the risk increases with certain factors including lack of sexual education, poverty, social inclusion and personal development. 
The group of spouses of Caribbean Heads of State and Government, including Belize’s Special Envoy for Women and Children Kim Simplis-Barrow, have issued a call to action to change this state of affairs, in conjunction with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
In today’s one day symposium hosted at the Radisson Fort George Hotel, Simplis-Barrow and her counterparts from Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and a representative from Jamaica, will work towards solutions for this crisis.
Teen pregnant women are often kicked out of school, ostracized by family and fall into degrading lifestyles in order to survive.
Simplis-Barrow says that the power of the concerned, directed at this problem, will overcome it.
She also noted that boys and young men must be redirected from their dismissive attitude toward women and girls.