Malaysia recorded 1,048 cases of teenagers getting pregnant out of wedlock from January to March of last year, the Health Department reported. This translates to an average of 12 teen pregnancies a day.
The Health Department in its Teen Pregnancy Statistics Manual 2012 also reported a spike in the number of maternal death among teens, with five cases in the first three months of last year, compared with a total of 17 for the whole of 2012.
Records of adolescents seeking antenatal care in hospitals in 2012 showed that out of 18,847 cases of teen pregnancies, 4,183 were unwed. In the first three months of 2013 alone, there were 4,123 cases of teen pregnancies recorded, of which 1,048 were unwed.
Family Health Development Division assistant deputy director Dr Nik Rubiah Nik Abdul Rashid cited that while there were many contributing factors to unwanted teen pregnancy, chief among them was the lack of parental guidance.
“Parents are too busy working and fail to supervise their children’s social activities,” she told The New Straits Times.
“As children grow older, parents let their guard down and assume that their kids are independent enough.”
Another factor for unplanned pregnancies was poor knowledge of sexual reproductive health. “Teenagers lacked information on sexual education, hence they were ill-equipped with information on how to have safe sex,” she said.
Dr Nik Rubiah gave her assurance that teens who go to government clinics to seek treatment for their unwanted pregnancies would have their confidentiality maintained.
“We do not want to scare teenagers. We have implemented a guide for trainers on how to take care of the teenagers’ confidentiality without sidelining the law and their parents’ right to know.”
Source: The New Straits Times
Photo: Stefan Pasch / Flickr
