The number of teenage pregnancies in Bradford have been cut by 100 year, after a concerted education project with girls under 18.

Health workers say the drop in numbers is due to the success of a project called Upfront which was started in 2001 with a ten-year strategy to cut the number of young girls falling pregnant.

It is a joint project between Bradford Council, the NHS, and other agencies who have come together to tackle conception rates and deal with the root causes of teenage pregnancy.

It offers young people sexual health advice in general youth advice centres and schools.

In 1998 in Bradford there was a total of 572 teenage pregnancies in the district - a rate of 57.9 per 1,000 girls.

In some parts of Bradford the number of girls under the age of 18 who became pregnant was almost one in ten. The wards with the worst rates were Tong, Little Horton and Bowling, which saw 97 pregnancies per 1,000 girls six years ago.

The figures were well above the national average which was 47.6 per 1,000 girls - or a total of 44,119 teenage pregnancies.

However, the latest figures for 2002 show that Bradford's teenage pregnancy rate has dropped to 46 per 1,000 or a total of 481 a year - although it is still above the national average which saw a total of 41,868 teenage pregnancies - a rate of 42.8 per 1,000.

Claire Whiteley, of Upfront, said: "We have been offering sexual health information in places where young people can also pick up their travel cares, get careers advice or help with their school work.

"This takes away the stigma associated with family planning clinics where everyone knows you are going for contraception advice, so it makes it easier for young people to get the information they needs."

Other initiatives that have been put in place include training for GPs to make sure their surgeries aren't intimidating for young people and a video and work book for schools and youth groups to use.

In collaboration with social services Upfront is also making sure children in care, who are statistically more likely to get pregnant or be sexually active in their teens, are receiving suitable sexual health advice and education.

As well as trying to prevent pregnancy, Upfront also works with teenage mothers to improve their and their children's health.

Infant mortality amongst teenage mothers is 60 per cent higher than average, with postnatal depressions and relationship breakdown also more widespread.

"We work with mothers to encourage them to be more healthy, and particularly to breast feed," added Mrs Whiteley.