DAVAO CITY – The City Health Office (CHO) said on Thursday that there is a sharp increase in teenage pregnancy in the city this year.
CHO Population Officer Jeff Fuentes said that teenage pregnancy “is not the source of poverty but it is a reflection of other problems in the community.”
“Teenage pregnancy has increased this year mainly because there is a lack of access to information and services for teenagers,” he said.
CHO has also pinpointed tradition and language barrier, “mostly being followed by the tribal women”, as the main reason that there is an increase to teenage pregnancy.
“In order to address these problems, we have tapped the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) and National Youth Commission (NYC) to bring together IP and youth leaders to really look into this situation and to find solutions for this,” he said.
They will also conduct several dialogues on health regarding their tradition for the IP women, information campaign to different schools and several forums regarding teenage pregnancy.
“We have already piloted seven schools for this year, and recorded 42 cases of teenage pregnancy, which is a high figure for me that is why we devised new strategies to harmonize where the gaps are so we could holistically address these issues,” he said.
“We will also train health workers to be adolescent-friendly so teenagers would not be afraid to avail of the services offered in their respective health centers and to be informed properly since maternal health is our main and primary concern,” he added.
Fuentes said CHO will also be in partnership with the City Population Division of Davao to speed up the implementation of these programs.(davaotoday.com)
