Teenage pregnancies on the rise

Lakshmi de Silva

The rate of teenage pregnancies and incidence of malnutrition and underweight among pregnant mothers as well as children under five years in some of the Colombo Municipal Council wards had risen while incidence of tuberculosis too had risen in numbers. Road traffic accidents too were high in the city limits, CMC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam said at a recent official meeting held in Colombo.

These facts were reported at a presentation of the preliminary findings of Urban Heart Development program in Colombo organized by the Public Health Department of the Colombo Municipal Council in collaboration with the World Health Organization.

There are 642,000 permanent residents in the Colombo city and a floating population of another 500,000 and the population density that was around 17,250 per square kilometre was one of the highest in the Asian region. Kuala Lampur or Singapore had a population density of 6,000 to 7,000 per square kilometre, he said.

Another notable factor was that the primary school enrollments of children living in the Colombo city was lower than the national average and most of the children enrolled in Colombo schools were from outside the city, he added.

Regarding the ageing population in the city, the Chief Medical Officer said either they die young or moved out of Colombo when they retire and the ageing population in the city was lower than in other areas.

Road traffic accidents recorded in CMC limits were higher than in other cities. In some areas of Colombo there were 100 road accidents per 10,000 persons and the average rate for the city was 50 persons out of 10,000, Dr. Kariyawasam said.

Communicable diseases like dengue was high in the Colombo city area with 50 out of 10,000 persons affected while the diarrhea cases were reported from areas where there were Thosai boutiques, Dr. Kariyawasam said. A relatively high suicide rate was reported from Halgaskumbura, Borella area and it was related to stress but was lower than the national average, he noted.