A campaign to drive down the number of teenage pregnancies in Bradford has seen the rate drop below the English average for the first time.

A push by agencies across the district has succeeded in achieving a reduction in teenage conceptions of 38 per cent between 1998 and 2010.

In 1998 the teenage pregnancy rate in Bradford was at a high of 57.2 per 1,000 females aged between 15 to 17. The final conception rate for Bradford in 2010 is 35.2 per 1,000 females. The average teenage pregnancy rate for England and Wales now stands at 35.5 for every 1,000 girls under the age of 18.

In real terms, 572 teenage girls in Bradford and Airedale became pregnant in 1998. By 2010 this had dropped to 360, and the trend continues.

The district has not hit an ambitious target to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies by 50 per cent over ten years, but Nicola Corrigan, sexual health lead in public health for NHS Airedale, Bradford and Leeds, said the 38 per cent reduction was very good news for Bradford.

She said: “We have come a really long way from the 1998 baseline and we have dropped below the English average for the very first time,” she said.

“We are seeing the impact of a lot of hard work across the district and we are delighted. No one agency has the answer to this. It is a combination of factors.”

She cited initiatives such as: Speakeasy, an eight-week course by the Family Planning Association and delivered by NHS, which aims to give parents the skills and confidence to talk to their children about puberty, growing up, sex and relationships; sex education in schools and youth settings; the training of people such as social workers, teachers and health professionals on sexual health advice and information; and providing health services in accessible places, such as the Culture Fusion Centre in Thornton Road, which has a drop-in centre for young people’s health services run by the YMCA.

Other schemes include the training of pharmacists across Bradford and Airedale to provide emergency hormonal contraception free to people aged 16 to 20 who have had unsafe sex.

The PCT said teenage pregnancy would continue to be a priority because of its links to infant mortality. The Bradford district has a higher than average infant mortality rate – babies dying before the age of one – and teenage mothers have a higher risk of poor birth outcomes than other groups.

To find out more about contraception and sexual health services visit bash.nhs.uk or call (01274) 200024.