‛Work’ needed to address PH teen pregnancy woes

MANILA -- Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Thursday the government still had “a lot of work to do” in addressing teen pregnancy despite its decreasing rate.

“While there is (a) downward trend in the rate of adolescent or teenage pregnancy, it should not be missed that the rate in the country is twice as high compared to the rates in Southeast Asia. Thus, we have a lot of work to do,” Duque said in his speech at the Kapit Kamay Summit in Pasay City.

The summit aimed to discuss and forge a multi-stakeholder solution -from the sectors of education, health, development, child protection, media and technology, and the community -- to address teen pregnancy.

Duque cited the results of the 2017 National Demographic and Health Survey, which showed the prevalence of adolescent fertility rate or birth rate had gone down to 47 out of 1,000 females aged 15 years to 19 years, from a high of 87 out 1,000 in May 2013.

The number of women aged 15 years to 19 years who have begun child bearing has slightly decreased by 10 percent in 2013 to 9 percent, he said.

Apart from social implications, Duque said early

pregnancy poses greater risks of complications to both mother and child compared to “delayed” pregnancy. “There is preterm delivery where a child is born in less than the normal 37 weeks. It also results (in) low birth weight, which affects the health of the child before it could even lead to death, and children born to adolescent moms are more likely to die compared to children of older mothers,” he said. Quoting a 2015 data from the World Health Organization, Duque reported that maternal conditions rank first in all the common causes of death among females aged 15 years to 19 years. To address early pregnancy,