SOUTH LONDON is the place to go for teenage pregnancies, according to a new report from the London Assembly.
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The London boroughs of Southwark, Lambeth and Lewisham are all in the top five areas in the country – placed first, second and fifth respectively – for teen pregnancies.
In Southwark, on average, one in 13 teenage girls gets pregnant.
As Britain is ranked second only to the US for teenage pregnancies in the developed world, there is a fair chance that Southwark is the first world leader for the rate of young girls getting in the family way.
Across London as a whole, teen pregnancy is more common than elsewhere in the country. 4.6% of under-17 girls in London get pregnant, compared to a national average of 4.2%, though the London rate has fallen.
Rates of sexually transmitted diseases such as chlamydia and gonorrhea are also higher among London’s teenagers than the British average, the Assembly report found.
“Many young people in London are clueless about sexual health and how to avoid infections and unwanted pregnancy,” said Lisa Power, of the sex-health charity, the Terrence Higgins Trust.
“It’s crucial that services are designed to be young people friendly and geared up to meet their needs.”
On that front, the good news from the report is that those sex-health clincs that have had a revamp to make them less intimidating to teenagers reported better results than traditionally-run clinics.
Possibly better still, the Assembly’s report was compiled from 2007 stats, before other clinics had put in their own refurbishment schemes.
Nevertheless, the Assembly is worried.
“Whilst we welcome the improvements since our 2005 report on this topic, our most recent investigation shows that Londoners’ sexual health remains worryingly poor,” said James Cleverly, chair of the committee responsible for the report.
