A multi-million pound Government scheme to reduce teenage pregnancies by handing out condoms and encouraging children to talk about sex has increased the numbers who became parents, a new evaluation study confirmed.
The Young People’s Development Programme (YPDP), a programme attempting to repeat the success of the Carrera programme in New York City (US) that cut teenage pregnancies, has failed in the United Kingdom and led to an increase rather than a drop in the number of girls getting pregnant. The programme, which cost £5.9m and involved 2,371 youngsters aged 13 to 15 (the cost of £2,500 each) across England, showed that young girls who attended were 'significantly' more likely to become pregnant than those in a comparison group. It also failed to delay drinking and cannabis use.
The independent research, published online by the British Medical Journal, was carried out by Meg Wiggins, from the Institute of Education at the University of London and Chris Bonell, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The researchers were commissioned by the Department of Health to evaluate the programme without the intervention of authorities.
They said that ‘at best, the programme had no impact – and at worst it had a negative impact’.
Meg Wiggins, of the Institute of Education at London University, who led the evaluation, explained: 'It looked promising, I think. We certainly were excited to be asked to evaluate it and we thought it was a very sensible thing to run the pilot. I can imagine the temptation was just to roll it out. Teenage pregnancy has been such a problem in this country.'
The research concluded:
'Among young women, YPDP participants more commonly reported teenage pregnancies, early heterosexual sex and expectation of becoming a teenage parent, as well as temporary exclusion from school and truancy. No evidence was found that the intervention was effective in delaying heterosexual experience or reducing pregnancies, drunkenness or cannabis use. Some results suggested an adverse effect.’
A Department of Health spokesman said: 'This pilot was based on a successful American programme. It did not appear to reduce teenage pregnancy so we will not be taking it any further.'
Harriet Harman, the leader of the House of Commons and a staunch feminist, has defended the Government drive. She told MPs that there was no 'dishonour' in experimenting with different solutions to the 'complex' problem of teenage sex and pregnancy.
(See the Independent report)
The YPDP programme was launched in 2004. Ministers have pledged to drop the scheme after admitting it had failed. Around 40,000 teenage girls become pregnant every year in the UK, the highest level in Western Europe.
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