Health officials in Fiji have expressed serious concern about the high number of pregnancies among 10 to 14-year old girls.
The Fiji Times says the concern has been made public by the coordinator of the National Adolescent and Reproductive Health Programme, Sister Sulueti Duvaga.
Sister Duvaga says while there has been a decrease in teenage pregnancies in the 15 to 19-year age group, there has been an increase in the 10 to 14-year group.
She says there were 8 cases of adolescent pregnancies in 2000 but by 2004 the figure had jumped to 36 with the problem prevalent among indigenous Fijians,
Sister Duvaga says adolescents are reaching puberty at a younger age than previously and do not know the changes that are taking place in their body.
The chief executive of the health ministry, Dr Lepani Waqatakirewa, is quoted as saying the health risk of such pregnancies is not so much an issue as its social implications.
