Leaders in Taguig City on Monday urged educators and parents to help the government in its mission to reduce teenage pregnancy, which latest studies from the United Nations say costs the country around P33 billion each year in foregone earnings.
In Taguig alone, teenage pregnancy remains high with more than 1,466 cases reported during the first nine months of 2016.
Still, Taguig achieved the National Objectives and health targets for teenage pregnancy, said Dr. Norena Osano, Taguig’s Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Nutrition coordinator.
As of September, the teenage pregnancy rate in Taguig is only 1.8 percent of the eligible population in the 10 to 19 years old female adolescent demographic. The national target is four percent of the eligible population group, Osano said.
“Although we were able to beat the target, a disturbing trend is that pregnant teenagers are getting younger. We have to modify our programs to meet this challenge,” she said.
Despite the city’s on-target performance, Taguig Mayor Laarni Cayetano found the situation unacceptable.
“The teenage mothers are basically still children and adolescents who should be in school getting an education and then a career. Their unplanned pregnancy restricts them to their homes and taking care of a child. The adverse consequences on their future are multifold and cannot be downplayed,” Cayetano said.
The United Nations Population Fund stated in its State of World Population 2016 report that girls who reach adulthood with proper education and their health and rights intact could triple their lifetime income, thereby fueling progress for generations and entire nations.
Klaus Beck, UNFPA Representative in the Philippines, says the practices that harm girls and violate their human rights”•starting at the age of 10″•prevent them from realizing their full potential as adults, and from contributing to the economic and social progress of their communities and nations.
He warned that sex-related diseases, teenage pregnancy and child labor are undermining girls’ health, rights and opportunities and threaten the world’s new and ambitious development agenda.
Without the girls’ contribution, says Beck, the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable
Development and its accompanying 17 Sustainable Development Goals may never be achieved.
“In the Philippines, teenage pregnancy limits far too many girls’ hopes, dreams and aspirations. It also costs the country around P33 billion each year in foregone earnings,” Beck said.
To fight teenage pregnancy, “teen centers” were set up and incorporated in the health centers of Bagumbayan, Western Bicutan and Central Signal, the mayor said. The centers are manned by voluntary peer educators trained by the Department of Health, international non-government organization “Save the Children,” and city health staff members.
The peer educators counsel teenagers, both students and out-of-school youth, on their problems. Taguig intends to widen the program to include all 31 health centers of the city, Cayetano said.
The Taguig City Health Office also trained midwives to assist adolescents visiting health centers. With the help of the City Social Welfare and Development Office, counseling and house visits are regularly offered to teenagers.
Cayetano also asked for the cooperation of parents, teachers and school principals to make sure that students who get pregnant will get the counseling they need and will still be able to go back to school after giving birth.
“If the child commits a mistake—in this instance, she got pregnant—I truly believe that this is not the end for her to have a bright future. I want the city government to find every means to help and support these children in continuing their education,” the mayor said.
Taguig Social Welfare Officer Jurita Olvido said the support from the parents should never stop because they still need to provide the needs of their children—education, health and protection.
She stressed that “there is a great importance in strengthening the values formation and supervision of the parents on their teenage kids.”
The new development agenda, which was endorsed by world leaders in 2015, is the United Nations’ global blueprint for peace, prosperity and a sustainable future to 2030, leaving no one behind.
Of the 125 million 10-year-olds today, 60 million are girls who are systematically disadvantaged at the global level as they move through adolescence and into adulthood, the report noted.