Number of teen pregnancies fall (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Number of teen pregnancies fall

SWINDON no longer tops the league table for having the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the South West for the first time since 1998.

Young people have taken part in a raft of workshops under the teenage pregnancy strategy in Swindon which have helped with the fall.

Next week schools and youth centres will host workshops with Swindon Dance and Ludus Dance Company to explore issues surrounding sexual health.

It will culminate in a performance of Zygote a hard-hitting look at teenage pregnancy and parenting at Hreod Parkway School on Friday.

Emma Vicat, 15, who attends Churchfields School, will take part in the workshops. She said: "It's unusual to combine dance with sexual health but it's a good idea. It's a new and interesting way to educate schoolchildren."

Fellow pupil Michael Singh, 15, of Park South, said: "You can dance to anything. I think children should be taught about looking after themselves at a younger age."

The new figures show Swindon's teenage pregnancy rate is now 45.4 per 1,000 under 18-year-olds, which means it is ranked fourth in the region, behind Bristol (49.4), Torbay (48.7), and Plymouth (47.1).

South Gloucestershire came out the lowest with a rate of 21.9 per 1,000 under-18s. The average for England is 42.6, while the South West average is 35.5.

The National Teenage Pregnancy Unit figures, which relate to 2002, show a drop of 16 per cent in year-on-year conception rates among Swindon teenagers. In the town there were 153 under-18 conceptions in 2002 compared with 189 the previous year.

Fran Birch, Swindon Primary Care Trust's teenage pregnancy coordinator, said: "While we are still above the national average and indeed above the average for the South West, it does mean we are really seeing results for the hard work we have done. It means the teenage pregnancy strategy is really working.

Swindon PCT works together with other organisations, including Swindon Council, on the strategy.

It was launched in 2001 as a result of a national report that highlighted the increasing number of teen parents and unplanned pregnancies to young people, and showed they were being socially excluded in areas including education, economics and housing.

Tara Jones, a mother-of-three from Penhill who had her first child when she was 18, said: "It's great news. Hopefully more teenagers will stay on to complete their education before starting families."

Swindon South MP Julia Drown said: "I've been very impressed with the work I've seen to tackle teenage pregnancies. I hope other areas can learn from our experiences."