Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/881840
10 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2017 News 280 260 240 220 200 180 160 140 120 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 MATTHEW VELLA MALTA'S rate of teenage preg- nancies has entered an eight- year trend that shows fewer young women are having ba- bies. The latest data from the Na- tional Obstetric Information System shows the proportion of mums aged 18 or younger has been on a declining trend for eight years. Teenage mums have been on a consistent decline from 2009, when 2.7% of all deliveries were to a mum aged 18 or younger, to just over 0.7%. Conversely, the greatest num- ber of deliveries, in 2016 – 1,588 – or 35.6% of all mums, was to women in the 30-34 age group, again consistent with the trend of increasing overall average maternal age over the past dec- ade. Dr Neville Calleja, the director of health information, says the good news of declining teen- age pregnancies is welcome al- though it is hard to pinpoint ex- actly the cause for this reversal. Between 2000 and 2009, Mal- ta's teenage pregnancy rate was actually getting worse, climbing from 1.7% to 2.7% in nine years. "I'd like to think that sexual education campaigns have been working, but the exact reason is difficult to pin down," Calleja, a medical statistician and special- ist in public health, says. "It's speculative to say that sexual education campaigns have been working. We'd have to say that girls today are more empowered and fewer mistakes are being committed. We saw no correlation with abortion statistics from other European countries, which means this could actually be a change in behaviour and lifestyle." Malta's efforts at taking sexual education campaigns to schools have always been blunted by vocal protests from Catho- lic authorities. In 2010, Gozo Bishop Mario Grech caused a splash when suggesting that educational authorities would be committing "abuse on our students if instead of helping them learn how to educate their sexual energy, offers them an education and methods such as contraceptives, to buy into the culture of pleasure." His remarks came just a year after a World Health Organisa- tion advisor, clinical specialist Decline in teen pregnancies Malta may have reversed a worrying trend of teen pregnancies, but experts are not yet sure this is just down to sexual education campaigns Theft suspect growls, barks at magistrate MATTHEW AGIUS A police inspector has said that a Somali man arraigned on theft and assault charges, who growled and contorted himself in the courtroom as the bemused magistrate looked on, was feign- ing madness to avoid criminal charges. A growling 19 year-old Ahmed Abduwili appeared before mag- istrate Gabriella Vella yesterday afternoon, hands shackled and with a mask over his face to stop him from spitting. Inspector Melvyn Camilleri explained that Abduwili, who barked at police at points during the sitting, had been arrested af- ter climbing onto a private roof in Birzebbugia. He was accused of trespassing, refusing to give his details to police, failing to obey police orders, making obscene utterances in public and violently resisting arrest. The inspector said the man had been acting strangely since his arrest, but had been assessed by a medical professional and certi- fied to be sane. At a point during the sitting, Abduwili, still handcuffed, swiv- elled around and hooked his legs on the back of the bench of the accused, his back towards the magistrate. In view of the fact that he gave no coherent reply to any of the court's questions a not guilty plea was registered on his behalf. He was remanded in custody. Lawyer Francine Abela was le- gal aid. Man, 19, arrested for trespassing, wore mask over his face to stop him from spitting in court 247 Deliveries to mothers aged under 20 Source: NOIS, Mater Dei Hospital