Urban Slums Screening Initiative: Effect on Adolescent Teen Pregnancy Rates in South African Cities,

The prevalence of adolescent teen pregnancy in urban slums of South African cities remains high, highlighting a need for targeted preventive health screenings. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with adolescent participants aged 12-19 years, randomly assigned to either a screening intervention group or a control group. Screening included comprehensive sexual health education and access to reproductive healthcare services. Data collection on pregnancy rates was performed annually over two years. The screening programme resulted in a statistically significant reduction of teen pregnancies by 30%, with 15 out of 60 participants in the intervention group experiencing no pregnancies compared to 27 out of 60 in the control group (95% CI: -48. 1% to -8. 9%). The preventive health screenings significantly decreased teenage pregnancy rates among adolescents living in urban slums. Further implementation and evaluation of similar interventions are recommended for broader impact. Treatment effect was estimated with logit (pᵢ) =₀+^ Xᵢ, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.