KUCHING: The One Stop Teenage Pregnancy Committee (OSTPC) has succeeded in reducing teen pregnancies in Sarawak, revealed Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah yesterday.
She said that from January to October this year, 1636 teen pregnancies were reported in the state compared to 2153 teen pregnancies for the whole of last year.
“Besides reducing the number of teen pregnancies, the objectives of OSTPC were also to help mothers and their babies, to reduce the number of repeated pregnancies by the same teens and lastly to reduce the number of baby-dumping cases in Sarawak,” she told a press conference at Bangunan Baitulmakmur here yesterday.
She added that OSTPC, set up in 2014, coordinated the management and resolution of cases of pregnant teenagers with the strategic partners of her ministry including government departments/agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Fatimah pointed out that the committee had also carried out consistent, planned engagements with communities, village and community leaders and students in schools.
She said the committee would continue to solve social issues with the communities through outreach programmes.
“It will focus on education, awareness, prevention and resolution of social issues in the community, particularly the 10 issues highlighted by the ministry,” she said.
Fatimah added that the committee was working on an integrated social directory for children below 18 years old who did not attend school.
“We have evidence to show that teenage marriages among students who are still in school have decreased drastically.
“But attention must be given to school dropouts as they are out of the school system and in the community.
“We have to give them attention and create an integrated social directory to counter the issues faced by those who are not schooling,” she said.
