The executive director of the National Council on HIV/AIDS says he is highly disturbed by the high percentage of teenage pregnancies in the Dominican Republic. According to El Nuevo Diario, Dr. Victor Terrero said that official figures showed that 21% of all pregnancies involve teenagers, and the problem has worsened over the years, especially in the south, the poorest part of the country, where perhaps over 30% of the pregnancies are among adolescents. The newspaper also stressed that at the Altagracia Maternity Hospital in Santo Domingo – the nation’s largest maternity hospital – the number of young women receiving prenatal care is constantly on the increase, and the average age is between 15 and 16. As a result both the Ministry of Public Health and the HIV/AIDS Council are mobilizing efforts to provide educational guidance for these young people and their parents.