KUCHING: Teenage pregnancy in Sarawak shows a minor rise of 23 cases or 1.08 per cent in 2018, despite the downward trend in the previous years since 2014.

However, with the One Stop Committee for teenage pregnancy available at both state and divisional levels, the issue (teenage pregnancy) can be managed as there is a guideline and system in place, says Minister of Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah.

“We have guideline for managing pregnant teens and the committee knows what to do. Even though there may be a change of officers from time-to-time, the system is in place,” she told a press conference after the second Sarawak Social Development Council meeting at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here yesterday.

Apart from looking into the welfare of the teenage mother and child, advocacy programmes are held in the community and school levels. Its objective is to create awareness and reduce the number of teenage pregnancies, and the reduction in baby dumping cases.

For baby dumping, Fatimah said the number of cases was less compared to Peninsular Malaysia. If there are incidences of accidental teenage pregnancies, the mother will give birth and the child will be taken care of by the family, not end up dumped.

On the drug menace, she said the public were more confident in channeling information so that the authorities could take action to curb drug and substance abuse.

Sixty arrests have been made in Subis District as of April this year, 56 of them male and four females, aged between 20 and 40 years old.

“With this information, the authorities can take action and this benefits the community as they can be free from the drug menace,” she said.

There are One Stop Committees (OCS) for handling drug and substance abuse set up at the state and district levels, comprising various agencies working strategically in handing drug and substance abuse. There are 21 OCS set up in Sarawak, with two more to come up.

“With the OCS, we hope to be able to increase awareness on the dangers of drugs and substance abuse.”

The meeting also discussed eight other social issues; petty crimes, domestic violence, sexual crimes against women and children, marriage and divorce, personal identification documents, mental health and homelessness.

The meeting also saw the appointment of four new Social Development Council committee members – Sarawak Public Communication Unit director, Mental Health Association chairman Dr Ismail Drahman, permanent secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, and director of Sarawak Immigration Department. Assistant Minister of Community Well Being Datuk Francis Harden Hollis and the ministry’s permanent secretary Dr Saadiah Abdul Samat were also present at the meeting.