YOUTH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH. Mayor Ernesto Evangelista (center) presided over the third quarterly meeting of the Local Council for the Protection of Children on Friday (Sept. 13, 2019) at the Municipal Legislative Building in Santo Tomas, Davao del Norte. The local chief executive discussed socio-development programs for the youth to be undertaken by the Council in 2019 and the coming years. (Photo courtesy of Santo Tomas MIO)
DAVAO CITY -- The municipal government of Santo Tomas, Davao del Norte has vowed to intensify the social development programs for the youth amid various reproductive health issues besetting the young people of this municipality.
“I am taking the social development programs for the youth seriously under my term. In fact, it is one of my priority programs under the social services that should be implemented the soonest possible time,” Mayor Ernesto Evangelista said in an interview Sunday.
Evangelista said he would address the reproductive health issues among the youth, establish and strengthen the community-based teen center, and continue implementing sports development programs.
He said the municipal government will also undertake a program calling for the strengthening of the Local Council for the Protection of Children (LCPC) and the Comprehensive Local Juvenile Intervention Program.
The mayor also urged Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials to take their mandate seriously as representatives of the youth.
Evangelista said he will take a look into the SK annual investment plan to determine if their programs are anchored on the municipal government’s social development program focusing on health and wellness.
During the meeting of LCPC on Friday, Dr. June Lim, the municipal health officer (MHO), presented various cases that MHO had served for a period of 2017 to 2019.
Lim said teenage pregnancy, depression, human immunodeficiency virus, sexually transmitted diseases, violence, physical abuse, substance abuse and alcohol use were among the common problems besetting the youth sector in Santo Tomas town.
Of these cases, teen pregnancy topped with the number of clients served stood at 351 with age ranging from 15 to 19 years old.
The outcome of teenage pregnancy stood at 2,311 last year, slightly lower compared to previous year’s 2,367.
For 2019, MHO only recorded 15 cases of teenage pregnancy, with age ranging from 15 to 17 years old. (PNA)
