12:20pm Tuesday 18th November 2008
By Clare Kennedy
GIRLS as young as 13 could soon get long term contraceptive jabs at school as part of plans to curb Southampton’s high teenage pregnancy rates.
Government ministers have recommended the city’s council and health chiefs increase the uptake of injections and implants at school-based clinics.
Under the proposed scheme, teenagers would be able to receive the injections without having to tell their parents.
The city is one of 21 in the UK identified as a teenage pregnancy hotspot by the Government which has sent out a series of letters recommending city and health chiefs take “urgent action” to reduce teen pregnancies.
The letters call for more “school-based contraception clinics” and “an overall increase in the uptake of long-acting reversible contraception” that can make girls infertile for periods ranging from three months up to three years.
Officials claim that using long-lasting injections and implants rather than daily pills would make it easier for young girls to control their fertility.
Charlotte Bemand, Southampton’s teenage pregnancy boss, said the jabs were not currently available at the city’s secondary schools.
She refused to say whether it was something the city would be introducing until a six-month review of sexual services had been completed next January.
However, she added that long acting reversible contraception was already available to teenagers in colleges and sexual health drop-in centres.
She said: “Our focus is around our biggest age group of conception which is 16 to 17. That is why we are putting the focus around long acting methods of contraception with drop-in sessions at college sites such as Southampton City College and Itchen.”
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