TEENAGE BIRTHS

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman asked the Acting Minister for Community Development and Sports (a) in each of the last 5 years what is (i) the number of births registered to teenage girls; (ii) the number of these births in proportion to all births; (b) what systems are in place to monitor what happens to these teenagers and their newborns; and (c) whether follow-up actions are in place to support these young mothers and their newborns.

The Acting Minister for Community Development and Sports (Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim): Mr Speaker, Sir, between 1997 and 2002, an average of 843 births per year was registered to teenage females. This is about 2% of the total number of births. However, the number of teenage births has shown a slight increase, up from 704 in 1997 to about 849 in 2002.

My Ministry works closely with our community partners to help teenage parents and their newborns who may need assistance. Healthy Start is a community-based early intervention programme provided by family service centres to identify families at risk and their vulnerable newborns. Such families are identified by family service centres after the babies are born at the hospitals. Regular home visits are made to assess the family situation, and to link them to relevant community resources for financial assistance, emotional support, childcare arrangements as well as parenting and family life enrichment programmes.

Other support mechanisms include pregnancy crisis helplines, temporary shelters for teenagers during their pregnancy, and assistance on adoption for those who do not have the means to raise the child.

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Can I ask if the Ministry has detected any profile of such teenagers? Also, what is the proportion of the different actions, in terms of whether they keep the baby or whether they give up the baby for adoption? What is the proportion of the different actions? And when they keep the baby, what is being done specifically to help these teenagers and their parents?

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Sir, I do not have the breakdown in terms of the different actions, but I would be most happy to provide the details to the Member. If they choose to keep the baby and if the family service centres identify the teenage parents and the newborn are at risk, we will provide assistance through the Healthy Start programme and other intervention means which are being carried out by several FSCs.

As to the profile of the teenagers who have delivered, I do not have the exact figures here. But based upon the numbers that we have seen coming through the Healthy Start programme, they tend to come from low income families. But I will have to verify that, Sir.