In 2015 more than 135,000 babies were born in Colombia to 15 to 19 year old mothers.

This problem has less to do with social and cultural stigmas, but with extreme poverty, says Catalina Escobar, chair of Juanfe, an non profit organization in Colombia that works with teenager mothers living in extreme poverty conditions and has saved the lives of more than 300 new-borns since its foundation, in 2001.

“For a teenager, becoming pregnant is probably not such a big issue, as probably her mum and her grandma had babies when they were very young too. However, she will think her future is cut short, and she'll go back to the bottom of the social pyramid, she'll be part of what we call a sleeping generation, a generación muerta. When a girl under 15 has a child, there is an 86% possibility that she becomes grandma at 26. This is unsustainable”, she says in an interview to El País. 
The Juanfe foundation also focus in sexual education and empowering little girls so they won’t tolerate to be raped or abused. "

Colombia is a catholic and conservative country, but we made serious progress", she said.

Read more about teenager mums in Colombia in El País today.