There is still a "huge lack" of information on contraception and sexual health for young people, Dr Brendan Clune, medical director of the DIT group of colleges, said yesterday at an event to promote the first World Contraception Day, an international awareness campaign, which takes place today.
Dr Clune said college medical services were still mainly focused on dealing with contraception and sexual health issues. He said he once had 18 consecutive consultations about contraception. Dr Clune said young people were still surprised they could become pregnant or get a sexual disease after one sexual encounter.
"It is alarming that 136,000 Irish women have had a crisis pregnancy at some point in their life," he said.
World Contraception Day aims to reduce the high level of unplanned pregnancies and improve sexual health education. It is being led by the Irish Family Planning Association in Ireland. The campaign is focusing on the 17- to 25-year-old age group, with the theme "Live your life before you start another". US actor Mischa Barton, star of The OC, is the face of the campaign.
European research has found that one in five people aged 15-24 do not use any contraception and over one-quarter did not use contraception the first time they had sex. Every day, there are an average of 220,000 unplanned pregnancies worldwide.
As part of the campaign, five girls briefly experienced the life of a teenage mother when they each took charge of a virtual baby for three days. The life-size virtual baby needs feeding, burping, rocking and nappy-changing. A chip monitors the quality of care it receives and records the number of failed requests for care, as well as incidents of wrong positioning, rough handling and shaken baby syndrome.
Berni O'Donnell (17) from Milford, Co Donegal, found the experience very wearying. On the first night, she brought home baby "Mia" and had an hour's sleep before "Mia" woke up crying. She didn't go back to sleep for several hours. "It's like a real baby. It cries, oh how it cries," she said.
"The tiredness was the main thing. Having to go about everyday life doing what I normally do while having to look after the baby was so hard." She was looking forward to a concert, but couldn't go because of the baby. "I got a babysitter, but I just didn't have the energy to go out."
The baby was switched off during school time but as soon as she got home, it would start crying. "One evening I got home from school and I had the baby in one hand, rocking her, and calculus in the other."
Erin McGettigan (17) from Letterkenny said the experience showed her she was not ready to be a mother. "Actually having to be responsible for someone other than yourself, and knowing that you just couldn't go back to bed until their needs had been taken care of was unbelievable."
Rosie Toner, director of pregnancy counselling services with the Irish Family Planning Association, said teenage pregnancy could be positive, but it was important that young women were given enough information to allow them to make an informed choice.
Crisis Pregnacy: by the numbers
220,000 Estimated number of unplanned pregnancies worldwide every day.
136,000 Estimated number of Irish women who have had a crisis pregnancy.
