NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Teen pregnancy rates and the number of abortions are falling in the NWT, according to data from the Department of Health and Social Services.
Kami Kandola: Says rate of gonorrhea fell by 53 per cent between 2008 and 2001. - |
The territory's teen birth rate declined by 50 per cent from the early 1990s until 2005-2007, according to the recently released 2011 NWT Health Status Report.
There were 39 births per 1,000 women in 2005-2007 compared to 78 births per 1,000 women in 1990-1992.
That number is still more than double the Canadian rate, which was 14 births per 1,000 women in 2007.
"We've looked at our teen birth rate and overall there has been a downward trend in those numbers," said Kim Riles, manager of primary community and acute care services. "The records I've reviewed go back as far as 1981."
The teen birth rate in Yellowknife dropped by 46 per cent, the report also stated.
The territory's smaller communities still have the highest teen birth rates.
Riles said the territory's abortion rates also fell, to 22.9 abortions per 1,000 women according to 2011/2012 statistics, compared to 26 per 1,000 women in 2005 and 2006.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information states that 40 abortions were performed in the NWT in 2010.
The numbers were collected from women aged 15 to 49, Riles said.
The drop in teen pregnancy rates could be the result of increased education about sexually transmitted infections (STIs), according to Dr. Andre Corriveau, the territory's chief medical health officer.
While the goal was to reduce the rate of STIs, practising safe sex also decreases the risk of pregnancy, he said.
"If you're doing safe sex, you won't get pregnant, too," he said. "The two are very intimately connected."
However, Corriveau said preliminary STI numbers from 2012 indicate rates seem to be increasing again.
"It's too early right now to see if this is a blip or a reverse trend back up again," he said. "At a glance, it looks like at least since last summer, STIs are going up again while they had been going down."
"It looks like we're going to exceed 2011 by quite a bit."
Corriveau said numbers have not yet been received from all regions and it will probably take until March before the department has a clear picture on rates.
He said the increase could be the result of more youth reaching an age where they are becoming sexually active.
"We are a bit alarmed by that trend," he said. "It's too early to decide what we're going to have to do differently."
Things looked better last year. In a news release issued in April 2012, Dr. Kami Kandola, then acting chief medical health officer, stated that between 2008 and 2011, the rate of gonorrhea fell by 53 per cent. The rate of chlamydia fell by 5.9 per cent during that same time period.
In the release, Kandola credited the department's educational tools, such as the respectyourself.ca website and the Kiss Me Deadly comic book, for the decrease. She also said more NWT residents were choosing to get tested for STIs and that nurses in the Tlicho region had been doing follow-ups with people who tested positive.
