19 Mar 2014

Chief says young Vanuatu women getting drunk, pregnant, killing babies.

2:50 pm on 19 March 2014

A Vanuatu chief says it is young women that move to town from rural areas who are most likely to become pregnant and leave their new born babies to die.

The Tanna chief has said authorities have retrieved babies from bushes, toilets, rubbish bins, and one mother fed her new born to a dog.

A spokesperson, Peter Kalmos Kalonpan, says it is not very common but stricter penalties should be introduced as a deterrent.

He says these could include community work and serving a chief for a period with weeding and gardening.

Mr Kalonpan says it is usually young women from rural areas.

"Most of them come from the old islands of Vanuatu. They would look for some way to satisfy themselves. Getting into drugs, getting into alcohol and ending up having sexual relationships with partners they may come across. Most of them ended up getting pregnant."

Peter Kalmos Kalonpan says there is always community support available to new mothers if they need it in Vanuatu.