CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1      Background of the Study
Teenage pregnancy can be defined as pregnancy occurring in a girl between the ages of 13 – 17 years (Drife, 2001).
Teenage pregnancy is defined as an underage girl (usually within the age of 13 – 19) becoming pregnant. (Grobler, 2003).
This may occur in both married and unmarried girls of this age group. Majority of the teenagers become pregnant without having what is takes to be a mother. As a result, they encounter a lot of problems and difficulties in the process. This is found in all societies but more especially in northern part of the country, Nigeria. More emphasis will be placed on Chikun Community where lack of parental care and the way parents give their daughters in marriage at a very tender age has contributed to high rate of teenage pregnancies in the community.    
Globally, South Africa has as a very high rate of teenage pregnancy and teenage parenthood. The average age of the mother is about 19 years. (Grobler, 2003). He as observed that the mortality rate and morbidity amongst the babies form by these mothers is high and the mothers have high risk of having complications such as hypertension and intrapartum complications.
Teenage pregnancy is common in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State. According to (Ruth, 2003) early sexual activity poses health problems to young women, some of the problems include anemia, pregnancy induced hypertension and prolonged labour. The baby is at greater risk of low birth weight and this leads to higher prenatal mortality rate. (Wikipedia, 2009).
Teenage pregnancy makes the teenagers vulnerable to unplanned parenthood. In addition, women who have sex at a very early age are more biologically susceptible to a number of sexual transmitted infections, which include (HIV/AIDS), than adult women. (Myles, 1999).
As a result of teenage pregnancy, many young girls in our society have been rendered hopeless, because of the associated problems especially to little children.