940 teenage pregnancies recorded in Sarawak from Jan to June 2024

Fatimah (seated, centre) together with other members after chairing the OSTPC meeting on July 12.

By DayakDaily Team

KUCHING, July 13: Minister of Women, Childhood, and Community Wellbeing Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah has reported that 940 cases of teenage pregnancies were recorded in Sarawak from January to June this year.

According to statistics from the Sarawak Health Department, 4.4 per cent of these cases involved girls under 16-years-old, 31.3 per cent were 16 to 17-years-old, and 64.4 per cent (605 cases) were 18 to 19-years-old.

In a news report by Sarawak Public Communications Unit (Ukas), she detailed that 35.7 per cent (335 cases) of teenage pregnancies involved girls under 18-years-old, 62.55 per cent (588 cases) were unmarried when they became pregnant, and 96 per cent (902 cases) were no longer in school when their pregnancies were reported.

“Based on ethnicity, 50.7 per cent of the recorded teenage pregnancy cases were among the Iban, 22.1 per cent were Malay, 6.8 per cent were Bidayuh, and 6.6 per cent were Chinese.

“By administrative divisions in Sarawak, Kapit Division recorded the highest percentage of teenage pregnancies (12.64 per cent), followed by Sri Aman (8.25 per cent), Bintulu (8.16 per cent), Sibu (7.52 per cent), and Sarikei (7.20 per cent),” she said.

She highlighted this after chairing the second meeting of the One-Stop Teenage Pregnancy Committee (OSTPC) for Sarawak level for 2024 on Friday (July 12).

According to Fatimah, during the same period, 345 intervention referrals were also issued to OSTPC members at the divisional level to be handled comprehensively according to the Sarawak Teenage Pregnancy Management Guidelines.

She further explained that these intervention referrals were related to welfare issues, legal matters, identification documents, schooling, protection, and support, including the health of the teenage mothers and their children.

“Of the total intervention referrals, 57.1 per cent (197 cases) have been fully resolved, 6.7 per cent (23 cases) could not be fully resolved, and 36.2 per cent (125 cases) are still in the process of being resolved,” she added.

Also present at the meeting was Deputy Minister of Women and Children Development Datuk Rosey Yunus. — DayakDaily