COMBATING TEENAGE PREGNANCY. Department of Health Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire (3rd from right) answers questions from the media during the launching of a program to combat teenage pregnancy at the Summit Hotel in Tacloban City. With her are officials from the local governments of Samar and Southern Leyte, the Department of Education, and UN agencies. (PNA photo by Sarwell Meniano)
TACLOBAN CITY – The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and United Nations agencies are extending a PHP490-million grant to address teen pregnancy in the provinces of Southern Leyte and Samar in the next four years.
KOICA Country Director Kim Eunsub said during the launch on Monday that this is the first time the Korean government is working on a joint program on accelerating the reduction of adolescent pregnancy with three UN agencies in the country.
“Korea is committed to support the Philippines in its goals to achieve a healthy life and universal health for all. We look forward to working towards improving the comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights of Filipino adolescents in the country,” Eunsub said during the launch at Summit Hotel here.
KOICA is a governmental organization dedicated to providing grants and assistance to combat poverty and support the sustainable development of partner countries like the Philippines.
Department of Health Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the project is mainly funded by KOICA with the support of UN agencies, national government, and local government units as they recognize that teenage pregnancy is a major health issue.
UN agencies have extended a USD1 million counterpart to carry out the project in the two provinces.
“We recognize this issue and that is why we continue to fortify our effort. We are committed to working with development partners, other government agencies, and local governments by providing support and guidance towards the successful implementation of this project,” Vergerie said.
UN Philippine Resident Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez said adolescent pregnancy is not only a health and education problem but also an economic development issue.
“We are eager to build on previous partnerships with the local governments of Samar and Southern Leyte and to accelerate the progress that they have reached in terms of development and humanitarian programs,” Gonzalez added.
The rolling out of the project which will begin this year until 2026 targets some 275,538 adolescents aged 10 to 19 in the region, said United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Representative Leila Joudane.
“These two provinces are the priority areas in the fight against adolescent pregnancy due to high poverty incidence, vulnerability to natural disasters, and large number of public school teachers not trained on comprehensive sexuality education (CSE),” Joudane told officials.
The project is a collaboration of KOICA, UNFPA, Unicef, World Health Organization, Department of Health, Department of Education, Southern Leyte provincial government, and Samar provincial government.
Specifically, the initiative seeks to build the capacity of community adolescent health services, set up mobile health facilities, expand health insurance benefits for pregnant women, standardize and strengthen peer education, accelerate the integration of CSE and teacher training, establish a local performance accountability system, support youth leadership and governance initiatives, and conduct research on early and forced marriages.
The program will train 150 health service providers, 150 public school teachers on CSE rollout, and 360 local government units in 20 towns and cities in Southern Leyte and Samar provinces.
Based on the 2020 World Bank study, the country is one of the countries in Southeast Asia with high adolescent birth rates at least 56 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19.
In Eastern Visayas, the 2022 National Health and Demographic Survey found that 4.9 percent of teens in the region have experienced pregnancy. (PNA)
