ATLANTA - Georgia ranks among the highest in percentage of teen-age births, according to a report by an advocacy group that tracks childhood health. <br>
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Births to those under the age of 20 reached a decade-low 14.6 percent of all birhts in 1999, down from 16.7 percent in 1990, but that compares with a national average of 12.3 percent, said the report issued by KidsCount. <br>
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``Georgia falls in a region the South that has the highest rates of teen pregnancy,'' said Marie E. Mitchell, director of the Teen Services Program at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. <br>
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``Historically, rural and poverty-stricken areas have had less access to health care. Alabama, Mississippi and other states rate higher than Georgia in numbers of teen pregnancy and infant mortality,'' Mitchell said. <br>
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In addition to socio-economic factors, she said, there is a national culture that promotes rather than discourages sexual activity and a deteriorating family structure. <br>
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``Georgia is very innovative in reaching out and attacking this problem'' Mitchell said. <br>
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In addition to the Teen Services Program at Grady, there are many other programs, such as the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention advocated by Jane Fonda. <br>
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``We have 235 family planning sites in Georgia health departments and non-traditoinal sites that offer everything from counseling and clinical services to referrals and medical services,'' said Christy Sims, acting state family planning manager. <br>
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``We're looking at ways to decrease teen pregnancy through marketing and by increasing services to clients and working with adolescent development coordinators in each district,'' Sims said. <br>
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Public health officials in Georgia do not view the latest KidsCount report as a wake-up call. Instead, it is a familiar call to keep up the frustrating work of trying to persuade teen-agers to postpone sexual activity. <br>
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``Our efforts are working,'' Sims said. ``Anytime we prevent one pregnancy, we're doing a service to that person.'' <br>
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Kids Count, a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, is a national and state-by-state effort to track the well-being of children in the United States.
