Teen Pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy in the Philippines is increasingly becoming a major cause of concern. There is a rising trend of young n becoming mothers and majority of whom are married. Young pregnant women are more vulnerable to death during pregnancy while child-birth and a huge number are not physically and fictionally prepared for motherhood. This is a feet reflection that there is inadequate and accurate information on adolescent pregnancy not enough priority is given to maternal and health care.
Kids with kids
We are faced with a glaring truth that at a very young age, a lot of young people today have children of their own. According to the 2003 National Demographic and Survey, one out of four women become mothers by age 19 while four out of 10 women in the 20-24-year-old bracket have already engaged in sexual activity.
In this young population, the majority are still unmarried 83.1 percent are living-in with their partners and 2.6 lent are not in union. The rate of pregnancy increases from 25 percent to 50 percent by the time women reach the 0f 20-24. More than the numbers, teenage pregnancy is a cause of concern because of the special role young women play society. Therefore the consequences increase and become more serious. Sadly, most kids do not know what to do when confronted with these problems.
We are faced with a glaring truth that at a very young age, a lot of young people today have children of their own.
According to Dr. Jean Marc Olive, representative to the Philippines , "In the Philippines, there is a difficulty in talking about issues on sexuality because Filipinos are very conservative. Because of this, there is a lot of misinformation about sexuality. Therefore, I believe that talking about sexuality will make children more responsible."
>Dr. Corazon Raymundo, professor, UP Population Institute, emphasized the importance of educating the youth to help them more responsible in curbing the prevalence of teenage in the Philippines. "We should have more awareness programs on sexual education and on how to deal with the of adolescent period. The more educated the kids are, the more they can avoid pregnancy," Dr. Raymundo said.
WHO forum on teenage pregnancy
In celebration of of A World Health Day 2005, The Zuellig Foundation together with Johnson & Johnson Philippines, Foundation of Adolescent Development and UP-National Institutes of Health, recently hosted a forum entitled "Kids with Kids" to support the advocacy on healthy young mothers and children.
In line with this year's World Health Day slogan, "Make every mother and child count," the forum was organized to address the need for and value of improving maternal and child health in the Philippines. It was also created to inform and educate the Filipino children on the prevalence of teenage pregnancy in the country and their role and responsibility in curbing it.
Recognizing the important role of the young people as the primary players in dealing with this issue, the forum catered to kids as young as 10 to 20 years old from different public schools in Manila. Various speakers were invited to talk about the social and economic aspects of teenage pregnancy as well as its risk factors and other health considerations. Among the guest speakers were Dr. Jean-Marc Olive, WHO representative to the Philippines; Dr. Corazon Raymundo, professor, UP Population Institute; Dr. Rebecca Singson, fellow, Philippine Obstetrics and Gynecologic Society of the Philippines; and Dr. Vicente Belizario Jr., deputy director, UP National Institute of Health.
One-hundred-fifty adolescents, teachers and social workers attentively listened to the speakers as they shared information on issues like teenage pregnancy, childbirth and sexuality, which are not often discussed. The speakers informed kids about the risks of having a baby at a very early age and gave them insights on how adolescent pregnancy can affect the social, economic and emotional aspect of a teenager's life.
The forum also discussed topics on early dating behavior, use of alcohol and drugs, dropping out of school and other problems that lead to teenage pregnancy.
Students from Mariano Marcos Memorial High School were also invited to bring to life June @ Johnny, a stage play on teenage pregnancy to show kids what life is like when young teens become parents. Through the forum, kids became more aware of issues on sexuality and adolescent pregnancy. This has also been the first step in enriching kids to take an active role in ensuring that they make informed and responsible choices in the near future. HN