Liverpool's teenage pregnancy rate falls 28%

Feb 28 2008

TEENAGE pregnancies in Liverpool have fallen by 28% since 1998, putting the borough ahead of all the other Merseyside authorities.

Figures released yesterday put the city, which has traditionally had high numbers of teenage pregnancy, below the North West average.

Figures from the office of National Statistics assess the percentage decrease or increase in the number of under 18 pregnancies per 1,000 girls in the seven years up to latest figures in 2006.

The picture is mixed across the rest of the borough with Knowsley, St Helens, Wirral and Sefton all showing decreases ranging between 26% to 3.4% since 1998.

Halton is one of only four local authority areas in the North West to see an increase.

Wirral, although seeing a 6.5% decrease since 1998, returned to its highest pregnancy rate since 2002 with 309 girls becoming pregnant in 2006.

One of Merseyside’s success stories, St Helens, continued its cut in numbers for the fourth year in a row.

Noted in the past two years as one of the worst areas in the country for teenage pregnancy, the borough was taken off the critical list last year and recorded 155 pregnancies.

Halton, despite dropping 17 pregnancies from 2005, has seen a 1.9% increase in the past seven years.

But a spokesman for the council remained optimistic and said huge improvements to contraceptive services and an increased focus on sex and relationships in school was having an impact.

“Halton’s teenage pregnancy rates for 2006 have fallen by 15.6 from the 2005 figures.

“Halton council continues to work to the 2010 targets in partnership with the PCT and have been informed through consultation with young people.

“We are confident that with the further investment that is planned we will continue to see a fall in our overall rates.”

Liverpool’s 2006 rate is 41.6, just short of the national average of 40.4, making it the North West’s second best performing authority.

Dr Paula Grey, director of public health for Liverpool PCT said: “Although these figures show there has been a significant fall in the numbers of teenage conceptions in Liverpool, there is no time for complacency and we will continue our hard work to reduce the numbers even further.

“Liverpool’s under-18 conception rate is now very close to the national average and we are now back on target to halve the number of teenage conceptions by 2010 but we acknowledge that there is still a lot of hard work to be done and we need to build on this success.

“Evidence shows that no single intervention can reduce teenage pregnancy rates on its own and that success lies in listening to what young people really want and need, and in working together to meet these needs.”

Wirral, where Birkenhead and Wallasey have been preganncy hotspots in the past, has seen fluctuating figures since 1998 with 309 girls pregnant in 2006, seven more than in 2005.

Julia Hassall, chair of teenage pregnancy steering group, said: “We are pleased there has been a reduction in teenage conceptions since implementing the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy locally in Wirral, however, the recent increase demonstrates that there is so much more to be done.

“We know that the majority of teenage pregnancies are unplanned and that nearly half of all teenage conceptions end in abortion.

“In addition to ensuring that young people have access to good quality relationship education and sexual health services, we must also look much more closely at the underlying issues that surround teenage pregnancy such as poor educational attainment, low aspiration, confidence and self esteem.”

New schemes to reduce teenage pregnancies in 2008 and 2009 include sex and relationship pilot programmes to increase the self esteem and aspirations of young girls.

Sefton saw a 3.4% decrease, and the director of public health for the borough said this was due to a teenage pregnancy strategy between the PCT, council and other agencies.

Dr Janet Atherton, director of public health for Sefton, said: “Figures today prove that Sefton’s teenage pregnancy strategy is successfully lowering the number of teenage pregnancies in the borough.

“But we are not complacent and continue to work on further reducing the figure through successful initiatives including Speakeasy courses aimed at helping parents to communicate with their teenage children and the C-Card a community condom distribution scheme responding to young peoples needs.”

Cheshire County saw a rate of 32.1 and a 15% decrease, Warrington’s rate was higher at 40.5 but recorded a greater dcrease of 17%.

The national average is 40.4, with a 49% abortion rate, while the North West average is 44 with a 46% abortion rate.