HEALTH chiefs have hailed the halving in teen pregnancies in Hampshire within a decade as a “step in the right direction”.

But today they warn more must be done to promote sexual health and education to slash rates further.

New figures show a significant drop in the number of conceptions among under 18s in the county.

It mirrors a national trend revealing the lowest number of teenagers falling pregnant since records began in 1969.

Figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reveal that reveals that 465 Hampshire girls aged under-18 conceived in 2013, compared to 715 in 2003.

In Southampton 129 girls became pregnant, nearly half of the number of 212 a decade ago.

This represents a drop from 30.4 to 19.5 pregnancies per 1,000 women in the age group for Hampshire and 59.6 to 36.2 per 1,000 in Southampton.

Overall the under 18 conception rate for 2013 is the lowest since 1969 with 24.5 conceptions per thousand women.

Better sex education and awareness are among the causes as well as young people spending more time on the internet.

But Southampton has witnessed no improvement between 2013 and 2012 when 129 girls also fell pregnant and is still above the national average.

As previously reported in the Daily Echo the true cost of teenage pregnancy in Southampton runs to more than £4m a year with every teenage parent costing the taxpayer an estimated £15,000 year in benefits and housing, amongst other costs.

Southampton City council cabinet member for health Cllr Dave Shields said: “It looks like it is a step in the right direction and hopefully we have started to turn a corner.

“But we shouldn’t rest on our laurels and we need to get to grips with it.”

Daily Echo: Councillor Dave Shields

Cllr Dave Shields

The city’s director for public health Dr Andrew Mortimore said: “The long-term, downward trend is to be welcomed and we will be working hard with key partners across the city to ensure our local teen pregnancy rates come down further.

A spokeswoman for Solent NHS Trust, which runs sexual health services in the county, reflects the work of its staff and added: “We are encouraged by the results and hope that nationally we continue to maintain and improve the figures through the programmes that we are providing.”

Overall Brits are having less babies with just under a million 872,849 conceptions to women of all ages in 2013 compared to 896,466 in 2009.

There were 17,519 conceptions in Hampshire – down 52 on 2009 – and 4,192 in Southampton – dropping from 4,211 four years earlier.

In the 35-39 age group there were 64.5 conceptions per 1,000 women in 2013, nearly twice as many as the 33.6 in 1990.

This breaks down to 68.2 in the South East region.