KUCHING: Teenage pregnancy remains one of the 14 social issues that are the focus of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) through the Sarawak Social Development Council (MPS).
Minister for Women, Early Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah stated that teen pregnancy cases had decreased by 34.6 per cent.
“Based on the statistics provided by the Sarawak Health Department, there was a decrease of 858 cases between 2016 (2,481 cases) and 2021 (1,623 cases).
“The percentage of teenage pregnancies out of total new antenatal cases also showed a declining trend of 0.7 per cent between 2016 (6.4 per cent) and 2021 (5.7 per cent).
“I’m happy to see the downward trend and I hope it keeps decreasing throughout the year,” she told the media after a meeting with the One Stop Teenage Pregnancy Committee (OSTPC) yesterday.
According to Fatimah, for the year 2021, a total of 109 cases (6.7 per cent) were under 16 years old, while 93.3 per cent (1,514 cases) involved girls aged 16 years and above. 1,524 cases (93.9 per cent) no longer attended school while reportedly pregnant.
She also said that in 2021, 63 per cent (1,023 cases) were unmarried during their pregnancy which showed an increase of 4.1 per cent compared to the same period in 2020.
Kapit recorded the highest percentage of pregnant teenagers at 13.2 per cent, followed by Sri Aman (9.8 per cent); Sarikei (9.1 per cent); Bintulu (7.1 per cent) and Sibu (7.0 per cent).
“As of March 2022, a total of 332 cases involving teenage pregnancy were recorded. The percentage of teenage pregnancies out of the total new antenatal cases is 4.1 per cent.
“A total of 20 cases (6 per cent) were under 16 years old and 94 per cent (312 cases) were aged 16 years and above.
“94 per cent (311 cases) were no longer in school when they were reported pregnant and 57 per cent (189 cases) were not married when they were pregnant,” she added.
Fatimah also mentioned for the year 2021, a total of 360 cases related to teen pregnancy were handled at OSTPC Divisional level and 223 cases (62 per cent) were solved.
“The cases involved issues such as welfare, legislation, identification documents, schooling, protection and support, and the health of the teenagers and their unborn children.”
Fatimah expressed her gratitude to OSTPC at the divisional and district levels for helping solve teen pregnancy issues in the state.
