Letter: Teenage pregnancy

Sir: Britain has one of the worst records of teenage pregnancy in the developed world and recent Office of Population Censuses and Surveys figures show a 25 per cent rise in under-16 pregnancies during the 1980s. If we are seriously to attempt to meet the target in the Government's health strategy, The Health of the Nation, of reducing by half under-16s pregnancies by the end of the century, it is vital that dramatic improvements are made to the provision of school sex education.

It is remarkable that the Department for Education has dismantled the infrastructure that might make such improvements possible. LEAs will no longer be responsible for resourcing teachers in health education, and funding for LEA health education co- ordinators has been withdrawn. The Health of the Nation calls for the development of 'healthy alliances' at local levels: perhaps we need to have a healthy alliance between education and health at government level first.

Yours faithfully,

ROGER SINGLETON, Senior Director, Barnardo's; DOREEN MASSEY, Director, Family Planning Association; LESLEY RUDD, Director, National Aids Trust; ANNE WEYMAN, Director of Information, National Children's Bureau; PHILLIP NOYES, Director of Public Policy, NSPCC; MARGARET JONES, General Secretary, Brook Advisory Centres

London, EC1