Youngest person to seek help with drink was just 10
The latest figures show the youngest person to seek medical help related to drinking last year was just 10 years old.
The child was treated by City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust for alcohol-specific hospital admissions, while an 11-year-old was the youngest to be helped by the Youth Drug and Alcohol Project (YDAP).
The year before, the youngest both organisations saw was 12.
Sunderland City Council says these statistics show its work to hit home the message to families about the danger of drink are the reason why it has backed the poster campaign, which is part of a nationwide awareness campaign.
It says alcohol is one of the individual risk factors closely associated with teenage conceptions, which lead to “disproportionately poor outcomes for young parents and their children, across the spheres of health, education, economy and wellbeing”.
In Sunderland in 2015, the latest statistics available, show one in 30 15 to 17-yearold girls became a parent, the sixth highest rate of teenage conceptions in England.
The rate of teenage conceptions in Sunderland in 2015 was 34.6 per 1,000 population of 15 to 17 years.
In the same period the North East rate was 28 and in England it was 20.8.
The rate of under 16 conceptions in Sunderland in 2015 was 8.5 per 1,000 population aged 13 to 15 years, compared to a rate of 6.2 in the North East and 3.7 in England.
The rate of 8.5 per 1,000 in Sunderland is the third highest rate in England.