KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor recorded the highest number of baby dumping incidences last year with 23 cases.
The state was followed by Johor with 19 cases and the Federal Territories with 16 cases.
Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister, Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun said the trend continued this year, with Selangor still topping the chart with 16 cases as of June 2017.
Sabah and Kuala Lumpur have seven cases each, while no baby-dumping cases were reported in Kelantan, Terengganu and Sarawak this year.
Azizah said the ministry, through the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN), has implemented various short and long-term plans to strengthen the family institution especially among youths and parents to create awareness on reproductive health to address the social problems in youth.
Azizah was responding to a question posed in the Dewan Rakyat by Datuk Rozman Isli (BN-Labuan) which had asked the ministry to state the latest statistics on baby dumping cases recorded according to each state, as well as the long-term measures by the ministry to tackle the issue.
The minister added that through the National Policy in Reproductive Health and Social Education and Plan of Action (PEKERT), various initiatives and programmes have been implemented by agencies under the ministry.
"Among them is the establishment of Remaja Center Cafe@Teen which aims to increase access to information on reproductive health among youths aged 13 to 24.
"Since its inception in 2006 until June this year, the Cafe@Teen outreach programme in schools and local communities has reached 632,512 teenagers.
"A total of 434,540 teenagers participated in educational and skills development programmes, 29,563 teenagers received reproductive health services while 9,097 teenagers received social counselling services," she said.
