City’s teen pregnancy rate drops, says report

THE number of women having children in their teens is continuing to drop in Dundee.

New statistics revealed by the Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland show that the city has made progress in tackling the number of teenage pregnancies, having once had the highest rate in Europe.

But there were 86 under-20s who gave birth or are due to have babies in Dundee this year, compared with 172 in the city in 2010 — a 50% reduction.

In Tayside this year, the number of under-20s giving birth was 186, compared with 337 in 2010 — a 45% decrease.

However, despite the drop i n Dundee, the number is still twice as high as in Perth and Kinross, where the number of under-20s who gave birth this year was 42 — down from 85 in 2010. The ISD figures also show that there is still a strong link between teenage pregnancy and deprivation.

More than half of those who gave birth under the age of 20 came from the most deprived areas of the region.

The figures are provisional, based on those who have already had babies or are due to before the end of the year.

The report also shows that a high number of women in the city are putting their unborn children at risk by taking drugs, including heroin and cocaine, during pregnancy.

Dundee is the council area with the highest rate of pregnant drug users in Scotland, and Tayside is the secondhighest of all the health boards in the country. For every 1,000 pregnancies, there were 33.5 women who were using drugs during their pregnancy in the city.

Ann Eriksen, NHS Tayside’s executive lead and commissioner for sexual health, said: “Reducing health inequalities and ensuring access to appropriate care for those at highest risk is a priority for NHS Tayside.

“Tayside has already seen successes in improving sexual health outcomes and has seen the greatest decline in teenage pregnancies of all Scottish health boards, and teenage conception rates in Tayside now sit below the national average.”

Justine Craig, head of midwifery, said that all pregnant women had a full maternal history taken as part of their routine antenatal care, including a discussion about drugs, and said that women who needed advice around drugs were referred to the relevant support service.