KUCHING: A total of 623 cases of teenage pregnancy has been recorded in Sarawak as of April this year, representing 5.7 percent of total new antenatal cases in the state, said Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah.
“Of these, 59.7 percent are unmarried teenagers and 97.6 percent of them were not attending school or have quit school,” she said in a statement on Friday, in conjunction with this year’s first One Stop Teenage Pregnancy Committee’s (OSTPC) state-level meeting which was held on Thursday (June 11) via video-conferencing.
She said that overall, the trend of teenage pregnancy in Sarawak had shown a decrease in the number of cases and percentages between 2015 and last year.
“The decline recorded in this period was 942 cases or 32 percent (2,909 cases in 2015 compared with 1,967 cases last year). The percentage of teenage pregnancy of total new antenatal cases also decreased by 2.21 percent (7.7 percent in 2015 compared with 5.49 percent last year),” she said.
However, she said that there had been an increase of 14.83 percent in unmarried cases among pregnant teenagers in Sarawak between 2015 and last year – from 48.47 percent in 2015 to 63.3 percent last year.
She added that an increase of 2.2 percent had also been recorded for pregnant teenagers who were not schooling or had stopped schooling – from 94.5 percent in 2015 to 96.7 percent last year).
Fatimah, who is also state OSTPC chairperson, explained that the various implications of teenage pregnancy were health risks such as miscarriage, death of mother/infant, infant disability, sexually transmitted disease, and the mother’s health, as well as social risks such as neglect of education, marriage at a young age, social stigma, isolation from the family, and social problems.
“In addition, there can be economic implications such as difficulty in obtaining work, threat of poverty, and financial burdens. Psychological effects can be caused, including stress, depression, anxiety, lack of self-confidence, and trauma in the case of rape victims,” she said, adding that the parenting competency of teenagers in caring for their child was also an issue.
“To address teenage pregnancy, OSTPC is ensuring that awareness, advocacy, and intervention programmes are implemented, focusing on locations and groups which are vulnerable.”
She said that this was based on analysis of teenage pregnancy statistics by OSTPC secretariat, Sarawak Health Department (JKNS), and the directory of social intervention of children under 18 years of age who were not schooling, obtained by the Social Development Council from ketua kaum in Sarawak last year.
She disclosed that intervention was prioritised based on location and ethnic groups which showed a high rate of teenage pregnancy as well as those who were under 18.
“Aside from this, guidelines and standard operating procedure (SOP) for underage marriage need to be improved, standardised, and controlled with stringent criteria for customary marriage and civil marriage,” said Fatimah.
Meanwhile, she stated that 23 cases of abandoned babies were recorded from 2017 to June 10 this year, according to statistics by the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) Sarawak Contingent.
Of these, five were reported as of June 10 this year, with a possibility of additional cases in the remaining six months of the year.
“Awareness and advocacy for vulnerable groups has to be conducted so that they are aware of the support and protection provided by various parties if they are pregnant out of wedlock and are not accepted by their families. The Social Welfare Department, for instance, has a centre for pregnant teenagers who are unaccepted by their families,” she said.
