Since the beginning of this year, 120 new cases of teenage pregnancies were referred to Unit Ghozza, said administrator and counsellor Pauline Darmanin.

Unit Ghozza is a section of the Guidance and Counselling Service within the Education Division and provides support and information programmes for teenage pregnant unmarried mothers.

Mrs Darmanin explained that Unit Ghozza supports and provides counselling for the pregnant girl, her partner and her parents.

It also offers parenting skills for the early years, career guidance for the girl and support groups for the teenage mother and baby.

Unit Ghozza also provides an important prevention service for parents. “We give talks on sexual health to parents whose children are in Year five and six. We help parents speak positively to their children about sexual development.”

Unfortunately, not many parents are interested, she added.

“I also hold talks for students and their parents before the Junior Lyceum exams. For these talks there is a 100 per cent attendance, while only the well-intending parents attend the sexual health talks.”

Counselling is also offered to the father of the child. Unfortunately not many of the relationships last since they are so young and unprepared, said Mrs Darmanin.

She explained that once the parents separate, the father remains close to the child for a period of time. “However, what usually happens is that they are taken up with other things in their life and drift away.”

The large majority of fathers are adults. “However, this year we have had one or two fathers who were minors.”

It is easier for the girls to accept the situation, she added. “They have to accept it as their body is constantly changing. However, the fathers are afraid of commitment and have issues about who actually is the child’s father.”

The pregnant girls meet three times a week for counselling and training sessions.

“We do not recommend that partners are present throughout the sessions. Some girls will not open up completely if there is male present,” said Mrs Darmanin.

Girls attending the unit are immediately given a warm welcome. “We immediately set them at ease and help them to accept their pregnancy,” said Mrs Darmanin.

“It is pointless to tell them you should have known better, we have to help them move on – they will never hear these things from us.”

Mrs Darmanin said that unfortunately many girls attending private practice are not referred to Unit Ghozza until late in the pregnancy. “While it is understandable that private gynaecologists will not refer them, we can help them much more the earlier they come to us.”

Teenage mothers have three options, explained Mrs Darmanin. “They can continue attending school normally on condition that they inform the school authorities and inform us,” she said. “The mothers can also stop attending school completely and attend the full programme at the unit. However, if she is still a minor after the birth, she has to continue attending school.”

The third option available to teenage mothers is a combination programme. “On certain days, they attend the programme at the unit and continue attending school during the rest of the week.”

However, Mrs Darmanin pointed out that the majority of mothers who take up the third option usually give up once they reach the sixth month of their pregnancy. “They usually feel they don’t fit in a school environment anymore so they stop and take up the second option.”

There is not one determining factor that can explain the increasing number of teenage pregnancies in Malta.

“Sex education is usually taught in Personal and Social Development (PSD) lessons in secondary school,” said Mrs Darmanin. “However, it entails much more and should also be included in the biology and science lessons, religion and social skills.”

Unfortunately, many teachers feel uncomfortable speaking about sex and simply skim through the subject, she said, or else pass on their own personal values.

“It is the parents’ role to provide this information and should not rely on schools and teachers to impart this knowledge and their values to their children,” added Mrs Darmanin. “The majority of parents do not feel comfortable speaking about the subject and leave it up to schools.”

Teenage mothers do not come from a particular area or background, she pointed out. “They do not come from broken families but from dysfunctional families. Children from broken families can have a strong adult presence in their lives, but children from dysfunctional families do not.”

Earlier this year Unit Ghozza organised a seminar on teenage mothers. “Following the information that emerged from that seminar we are setting up an action committee to investigate what else needs to be done in schools,” said Mrs Darmanin.

For more information, call Unit Ghozza on 2124-3869

Sexual health policy drafted in 2002 was never launched

A sexual health policy was drafted in 2002 by the Health Promotion Department but was never implemented or launched.

The document stated that it had a twofold aim: to improve the sexual health of the Maltese population and to narrow inequalities in sexual health.

It also stated that prevention and education services need to “target vulnerable groups and those that are harder to reach.” Non-school attendees, girls attending existing services for pregnancy testing or contraception, children of teenage parents, teenagers living in high risk areas and young people in care were among those listed.

The draft document also called for national information campaigns which would provide a backdrop for targeted local prevention work.

The Health Promotion Department (HPD) would be responsible for the planning and running of these campaigns while trying to instil “a sense of responsibility among the population for its own health” and “awareness of the necessity to seek immediately medical care when signs of STD appear”.

The policy also called for training across a range of sectors in sexual health including: nurses and midwives, in-service training for teachers to include sexual health, students reading medicine, training for counsellors and social workers in sexual health.

It suggested drafting a sexual health curriculum catering for all types of students with physical, learning and emotional difficulties. Four main goals were set up: to foster knowledge and understanding of sexual health, STDs, contraception, to nurture attitudes, values and insights, to build personal relationships and personal skills and to instil responsibility.

The draft called for a clear framework for teachers and facilitators for sexual health education within the legal, gender, moral, cultural and ethical considerations. It also planned for specific programmes targeting young people not attending school, “many of whom are highly venerable to sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV”.

It also suggested drawing up a clear policy to fight HIV and AIDS in prison and suggested making condoms available to prisoners during their period of detention “and prior to their provisional or final release”.

A walk-in sexual health clinic for minors under 16 years was also proposed with health professionals considering if it is in the client’s best interest if contraceptive advice or methods were provided without the parents’ consent.

Family planning and sexual health clinics are needed to be set up to offer advice to all those who request it, the policy stated.

The services would include contraception, protection against STDs, smear tests, on-the-spot pregnancy tests and screening for STDs.

It also called for specific services and measures for sex workers and gay people.

The proposed document stated that a 24-hour dedicated help line on sexual health “needs to be developed and funded by June 2004.”

It also stated that the compulsory notification of sexually transmitted infections “will be introduced to improve the reliability of information on the incidence and trends of predominant infections.”

Low use of condoms

Teenage mothers

Maltese births by 16-year-olds increased by 55 per cent over the past five years.

Last year, there were 40 births registered by mothers aged 16 years and there was a total of 54 births registered to teenage mothers aged 16 years or under.

In 2004, there were 49 births to teenage mothers aged 16 or under.

According to data collected by Angela Abela from the National Family Commission, 23.3 per cent of all births between to mothers aged between 17 and 24 are outside marriage.

She said that 63 Maltese women were reported to have had an abortion in the UK last year but many more women go to Italy.

Dr Abela pointed out that women who are more educationally ambitious and from higher socio-economic background are those who are more likely to have an abortion.

They also tend to be from less ambitious families and have parents and peers who support abortion.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

According to statistics issued by the GU Clinic at Boffa Hospital, there was an increase of most infections last year.

The clinic saw 1,500 patients last year. There were 43 cases of chlamydia – a significant increase over 2004 where 24 cases were reported.

An 80 per cent increase of syphilis since 2004 was also registered.

A total of 18 cases were registered last year and six in 2006.

Forty-six per cent of clients, who went to the GU clinic, said they had casual sex while half claimed that they only had sex with a regular partner.

Condom use is still very low – with only 11.5 per cent of GU clinic patients using condoms consistently in 2005 compared to 15 per cent in 2004. 65.5 per cent never using a condom compared with 63 per cent in 2004.

Around 89 per cent of women made use of the contraceptive pill while another 23 per cent use other methods of contraception.

International research

In a report issued by researchers in the US, it was revealed that the majority of sexually active teenagers do not use condoms regularly.

The respondents were unmarried teens aged between 15 and 19 years. The data was collected in 2002 by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and

Almost 47 per cent of teenage boys who had sexual intercourse said they always use a condom but only 28 per cent of girls said it was used.

One of the researchers pointed out that boys are more likely to use a condom during a one-night stand but not with their girlfriends.

The report also pointed out that 80 per cent of teenage pregnancies in the US were unintended.

According to international research:

• The younger a teenage girl is when she has sex for the first time the more likely she is to have unwanted or involuntary sex.

• Children of teenage mothers have lower birth weights and are more likely to perform poorly in school and are at a greater risk of abuse and neglect.

• Fear of STDs, unwanted pregnancies, religious and moral values, not having met the appropriate partner were some of the reasons for abstaining from sex.

• Teenagers who were raised by both parents from birth have lower probabilities having sex than teens who grew up in any other family situation.

• Living with a single parent, mothers with an adolescent pregnancy and having older sexually active siblings are possible predisposing factors for teenage pregnancy.

• Partners tend to be two to four years older with a low educational achievement and reside in disorganised or dangerous areas.

• Teenage mothers exhibit higher levels of school dropout and have lower levels of education.

Social benefits

Teenage mothers living with her parents:

• Social benefits

• Free medicines for the mother and baby

• Children’s allowance

• Milk grant if the mother fails to breastfeed her child for medical reasons

Teenage mothers living alone receive all the above benefits with the addition of increased relief and receive a subsidy for rent, water and electricity.

If a teenage mother earns more than Lm20 a week on part-time employment, the social benefits are gradually decreased but not totally removed.

Social benefits are not granted if the mother works full-time or cohabits with a partner who is employed.