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Published: Friday July 6, 2012 MYT 12:00:00 AM

Updated: Thursday May 30, 2013 MYT 10:33:06 AM

Baby-dumping cases escalate

by lim wey wen
Delivering the message: Students looking at posters of the Say No to Baby Dumping seminar
in Sunway.
PETALING JAYA: There has been a spike in the number of baby-dumping incidences since 2010.
After dropping from 102 cases in 2008 to 79 in 2009, the figure increased to 91 and 98 in 2010 and
2011 respectively.
So far this year, 31 cases were reported, Women, Family and Community Development Ministry
deputy secretary-general Harjeet Singh said.
He said the increasing numbers could be due to more reports being made and society becoming aware
of the scourge.
He said feedback from counselling sessions and case studies at several shelter homes for those aged
under 18 listed peer pressure and lack of knowledge about reproductive health as the two most
important factors that led to unwanted pregnancies.
The desire to fit in influenced many teenagers into adopting the lifestyle of their peers, he said after
launching a Say No to Baby Dumping seminar here.
Harjeet said teenagers mixed freely with little parental supervision these days.
Sometimes, the in-thing among them is to go to parties or have intimate relationships with their
partners, he said, adding that many of the young were not educated on how to avoid getting into such
situations.
Syarhah Mohamed Tahir, a project administrator at OrphanCARE, said some underage teens were
coaxed into having intimate relationships while others believed that their partners were truly in love
with them.
OrphanCARE is an NGO that was started in 2008 to help expedite the adoption process for abandoned
babies and children in orphanages. Consultant clinical psychologist Dr Alvin Ng Lai Oon said it was
more important for teenagers to be taught skills to deal with unwanted pregnancies.
If it happens, they should be taught how to manage it. An unwanted pregnancy is not the end of the
world, he said.
Related Stories: Dead baby in a knapsack Dead baby found in shoebox All government hospitals may
soon function as baby hatches.

Saturday September 22, 2012

One teen birth every day

By IVY SOON
newsdesk@thestar.com.my
With teenagers becoming more sexually active, doctors are sounding the alarm over
the rising number of pregnancies. Experts are urging concrete measures, including
proper sex education and a wide range of sexual reproductive health services for
teenagers.
KLANG: More Malaysian teenage girls are getting pregnant, with a major hospital
recording at least one case every day.
According to Dr Mohamad Farouk Abdullah, senior consultant and head of Obstetrics
and Gynaecology at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital here, about 14% of the
12,000 babies delivered annually at the hospital were by teenage mothers with many of
them unwed.
We thought such numbers of teen pregnancies were only in Klang, but I am also hearing
of similar scenarios in the other six specialist hospitals in Selangor, he added.

T
he

youngest girl to give birth at our hospital was a 12-year-old girl, Dr Mohamad Farouk
said at the Pregnant by Choice, Not by Chance or Force seminar. It was organised by
the hospital in conjunction with its Family Planning month.
The Health Ministry recorded 18,652 births by girls below the age of 19 last year
compared with 5,962 in the second half of 2010.
Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital's medical social welfare officer Nurul Azira
Mahamad Jafar said she had been handling at least one case of an unwed mother every
working day of this year.

The highest number of referrals I have had in a day so far was 14. These are our children
who are pregnant in their teens, said Nurul Azira, who has been handling cases of unwed
mothers as well as rape and sex abuse victims at the hospital for the past six years.
Most of the pregnant girls are referred to the hospital by clinics.
This is because teenage pregnancies are considered high-risk cases. A teenager is twice
more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth complications than women in their 20s.
Most of the girls come to the hospital complaining of discomfort such as stomachache
and spotting.
As part of the hospital's protocol, the doctors screen them for pregnancy and once
confirmed, they would be admitted and the family notified.
It is also part of the hospital's policy to provide antenatal care and treatment to them,
regardless of their marital status.
Nurul Azira said pregnant teenage girls under 18 and their babies were protected under
the Child Act 2001 and would be referred to the Social Welfare Department.
In most cases, the girls became pregnant because they were in relationships and had
consensual sex.
They are also from broken homes and low-income families. Some are runaways, she
said.
We have to establish rapport with these girls. Out of fear, they won't even confide in
their family, so we need to gain their trust to be able to get their family's contact details,
said Nurul Azira.
She said many parents expressed shame when told of their daughter's condition.
They are afraid their neighbours will know, she said. There are also those who are
numb to the fact because they feel they are unable to control their daughters.
We will usually refer these girls and their parents to the department for counselling, she
added.
Nurul Azira said if the parents were unable to take care of the unwed mothers and babies,
they could surrender them to the department.
She cited the case of a 13-year-old girl, who gave birth at the hospital recently.
Her parents said they could not ensure that the girl would not get pregnant again as the
father of the child was still living in the same community, said Nurul Azira.

So the parents agreed to the girl and her baby being sent to a department home

We wanted to try out sex and ended up pregnant

MALACCA: Sixteen-year-old teenage mum Salina (not her real name) who had sex with
her neighbour wasn't even aware that she was pregnant after an intimate session at a
secondary jungle in Kuala Pilah, Negri Sembilan, last year.
Salina said she and the boy had planned to go to a fast-food restaurant but ended up in the
jungle to try out sex.
I never knew that one could get pregnant on her first time, but I was wrong. Now, I am
expecting a baby, she said yesterday.
Salina said she regretted her action.
I admit that I was partly to be blamed, she said.
My urge to try out sex made me coerce my friend into taking us somewhere secluded to
do it.
She said it was also the reason why she stopped her family from lodging a police report
against the boy.
He has promised to marry me once I reach the right age, she said, adding that her
family too wanted her to keep the child.
Another teenager said she got pregnant accidentally after watching a pornographic
video with a classmate.
We ended up copying the act, she said.
The 17-year-old said she and her friend had gone to stall for a drink when the boy showed
her the video clip.
Soon after, we left to a find a suitable place to do it, she said.
We did it in an unusual place under a staircase of a flat.

She quit school when she learned that she was pregnant. I am now waiting for my friend
to marry me once we are capable of managing a family.

Stop the bullying, Malaysians urged

by christine cheah
PETALING JAYA: Malaysians should address the increasing number of bullying cases,
said motivational speaker Nick Vujicic.
Eighty per cent of teenagers in Malaysia admitted that they have been bullied before,
said Vujicic to a 500-strong audience at the Hilton Petaling Jaya Hotel on Wednesday
night.
Words are powerful. It only takes three seconds of negativity to get into someones
mind, said Vujicic, who was born with tetra-amelia syndrome that left him without arms
and legs a condition that naturally made him a target of bullying in his schooling days.
At the age of 10, he attempted suicide but eventually learned to be thankful for life.

I realised its not the absence of arms and legs that prevents me from doing anything.
Fear is preventing people with arms and legs from doing things! he said.
The biggest encourager and biggest discourager is you. Do not let others and
circumstances dictate your life, he said, directing it especially at victims of bullying.
Vujicic, who has visited Malaysia a few times, kept the audience entertained as he
imparted his message of hope that also saw the attendance of Women, Family and
Community Development Minister Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim.
I am inspired by him as well and I think he conveyed the message of self-esteem to the
audience, said Rohani, who expressed her appreciation to Vujicic for inspiring Malaysians.
She also launched Vujicics latest book, Give A Hug.
The event was organised by StART, a non-profit organisation serving underprivileged
children through visual and performance arts, with R.AGE as the official media partner

.Obesity

a big problem now in Malaysia

by audrey edwards
Food for thought: Malaysia is ranked sixth in the Asia-Pacific region for obesity and
tops the list in South-East Asia for both obesity and diabetes. AFP
PETALING JAYA: Obesity needs to be highlighted as a disease to underline the gravity
of the condition.
Two health associations want the Government to move public awareness in this direction.
Malaysian Society for the Study of Obesity president Prof Dr Mohd Ismail Noor said the
situation had become more urgent because there were more overweight children now.
They do not recognise that it (obesity) is a disease. So, no one cares and think it is okay
to be fat. Once you treat it as a disease, it will make people aware, he said.
He said obesity was the underlying factor for chronic diseases such as diabetes.
Obesity and being overweight are among the risk factors for type II and gestational
diabetes which occurs during pregnancy.
Malaysia is ranked sixth in the Asia-Pacific region for obesity and tops the list in SouthEast Asia for both obesity and diabetes.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya recently said that there were about
three million obese Malaysians and the number was increasing while there were about
five million individuals who suffer from varying degrees of diabetes.
A sedentary lifestyle is among the main factors for the high incidence.
Dr Mohd Ismail said some parents thought having chubby children was a reflection that
they were well-fed and cared for but they did not realise that the child was likely to be
overweight during puberty and this would continue throughout their lifetime.
Once you are obese, it will be a lifelong problem, he said.
He felt that the reduction in subsidies in items such as sugar and oil would compel
Malaysians to consume less of such food items.

You can always introduce food stamps for the poor so they are able to get the item if it
gets too expensive once the subsidies are removed, he said, adding that it was a double
whammy as they would have to spend more on medical treatment if they fell sick.
Nutrition Society of Malaysia (NSM) president Dr Tee E Siong said while obesity was
not listed as a cause of mortality, it should be considered a disease in Malaysia when
communicating to the public.
This is because obesity is a major risk factor to many non-communicable diseases such
as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and certain types of cancers, he said.
My main reason for calling obesity a disease is so that the public can become more
aware of the dangers of the condition.
However, in calling obesity a disease, I certainly do not want it to have negative
implications. For example, the obese children and adults should not be discriminated
against, he said.
He added that the main point was not whether obesity was labelled a disease but it was
for all stakeholders to give adequate attention towards preventing obesity with the highest
political commitment.
It should be beyond merely establishing strategic plans and action plans. There should
be a systematic approach towards combating the problem, he said.