Teen pregnancy toll of Nicola’s backyard
Constituency sees 1 in 5 girls under 20 conceive
MORE than one in five teenage girls get pregnant in one part of Scotland’s biggest city, according to figures that highlight the country’s shocking health inequalities.
The teen pregnancy hotspot – where 21 per cent of women under the age of 20 conceive a child – is in Nicola Sturgeon’s Glasgow South Side constituency, research released last week shows.
The figure for Govanhill West, which was 8 per cent in 2011, comes as the overall rate of teenage pregnancy continues to fall.
Last summer, the Scottish Government trumpeted its success in bringing down that rate for the eighth year in a row.
However, calls are growing for more to be done to educate and safeguard young women in some inner city areas.
Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP), which released the figures, confirmed yesterday it will be increasing sexual health services in Govanhill as a result of the latest data.
Between 2014 and 2016, an average of 212 per 1,000 teenage girls conceived a baby in Govanhill West, a particularly deprived area.
The figure is almost double the second highest rate in Greater Glasgow – 119 teenage conceptions per 1,000 in Central Easterhouse (12 per cent) – and more than six times the national average of 32.4 conceptions per 1,000 (3 per cent).
The latest Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation found it was among the 10 per cent poorest areas in the country, with relatively high crime rates and some of the worst education and employment prospects.
Last night Glasgow City HSCP said: ‘We are already in the process of expanding sexual health services in the city, including Govanhill, in response.
‘Our aim is to offer relevant and effective early support and advice across a range of services, including education.’
The HSCP also noted the country’s lowest teenage pregnancy rates can also be found in the Greater Glasgow area – East Dunbartonshire has the lowest rate at 15.3 per 1,000, only 1.5 per cent.
Scottish Conservative public health spokesman Annie Wells said: ‘For any area to have a rate which is so much higher than almost everywhere else is clearly a cause for concern. The First Minister needs to outline what she’ll do to help stem this issue.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Health boards are responsible for utilising data available at a more local level in order to ensure they address the needs of young people in their region.
‘That work identifies areas where rates of teenage pregnancy are higher than average.’