TEENAGE pregnancy rates across East Lancashire are falling faster than anywhere else in the country, it was claimed today.

District health promotion officer Peter Lewenz said pregnancy rates among the under 16s had dropped by 19 per cent in the past five years.

But latest national figures have revealed that pregnancy and abortion rates are still above average in East Lancashire with 9 in every 1,000 local schoolgirls becoming pregnant.

Mr Lewenz said: "The way to reduce the numbers of unplanned and unwanted conceptions is by improving sex education and improving access to contraceptive and sexual advice services.

"The rates are coming down, but we have got a long way to go.

"The under-16 conception rates in the UK are the worst in Western Europe." He said sexual health discussions needed to be linked to specific information about local services to make it more straightforward for young people to access them.

"Parents are still not very confident about speaking to young people about sexual health. As a society we have an attitude which doesn't help us to share information easily with young people."

Mr Lewenz said use of emergency contraception, or the morning-after pill, had increased by more than 500 per cent in the past four years, partly thanks to publicity campaigns by Brook Advisory Centres and other agencies.

The latest national statistics have disclosed that girls aged 16 and over in East Lancashire are 17 per cent more likely to become pregnant than British women overall, but are 19 per cent less likely to have an abortion.

Mr Lewenz said there were no clear reasons for this, although high conception rates were associated with deprived areas.

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