DUMAGUETE CITY, Aug. 12 (PIA) -- The Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) in Negros Oriental is intensifying its advocacy campaign on adolescent health and the risks of teenage pregnancy among young people in upland barangays following the death of four females related to teenage pregnancy in 2018 .
Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion disclosed that the deaths of four teenage girls between 15 to 19 years old two years ago was an “eye opener” for them to reach out to the young people in far-flung barangays, noting that that the mortalities were residents of upland villages but gave birth in hospitals.
The cause of death of these teen females are complications associated with child birth such as cardio-pulmonary arrest-eclampsia, postpartum hemorrhage, congested heart failure, and cerebrovascular accident with hemorrhage.
Two deaths were recorded in Bayawan City but the mortalities are residents of barangays Cansomalig and Cansilong and two deaths were also recorded in barangays Apoloy and Malabuan in Siaton town.
“Nung nakita namo na ang deaths tua sa mga bukid mao tong eye opener namo na we have to reach out to the farthest bukid na naay high school (When we found out that the deaths were residents of upland areas, it was an eye opener for us to reach out to the farthest area with an existing high school),” Estacion said.
She added that they are targeting young people aged 10 to 19 years old in their advocacy programs.
Some of the programs for their adolescent health education advocacy campaign they have carried out in the past include school visitations and counselling sessions with young people.
Aside from this, trained health workers also conduct orientations and briefings for parents and teachers during parent-teacher conferences to also involve them in the campaign.
The IPHO also established adolescent-friendly facilities in rural health centers in some cities and municipalities to cater to the needs of young people.
Estacion underscored that the period of adolescence is a crucial point of teenage life because this is the part where changes in their physical attributes and psychological and emotional behavior begins.
This is also a period of discovery for young people and they get curious on things.
The assistant provincial health officer reiterated that parents have a big role to play in guiding their children during this phase of their youth.
Aside from this, social media is also one contributory factor in the prevalence of teenage pregnancy as Estacion cited that even in upland communities, young people would go to the highest peak just to gain access to signal and stream restricted content.
“Maapil nato ang factor sa parents, sa family. Sometimes mahibaw-an nato usahay tungod sa kabusy sa amahan kulang ang income motabang ang inahan and the children are left home. Mao ning nahitabo karon. Mao gyud ning “time of discovery” and social media plays a role, and parents are not in the house to guide our children (Parental guidance play an important factor on this. Sometimes, because of lack of sufficient income, the mother helps the father in finding means to meet their daily needs. I think that’s what happened. This is a time of discovery and social media can influence children heavily and parents are not in the house to guide them),” Estacion noted.
In 2016, there were 4,159 teenage pregnancy cases reported in Negros Oriental, 4,595 in 2017; 4,067 in 2018; and 3,963 in 2019.
Although cases are still high in 2018 and 2019, Estacion attributed the drop in the number of cases to the intensified efforts of IPHO in its youth counselling and other interventions that are included in the Gender and Development (GAD) Programs of the agency.
However, the figures gathered by the IPHO are based on the childbirths recorded in the hospitals and birthing centers.
Dumaguete City, on the other hand, reported a reducing trend of teenage pregnancy cases over the past years.
According to Dumaguete City Population and Nutrition Action Officer Lourdes Taburaza, there were 398 cases in 2017; 333 in 2018; 273 in 2019; and 125 cases as of June 2020.
Taburaza also attributed this to the continuous efforts of the City Population Office in training youth leaders and mobilizing them to advocate on adolescent health among their peers and strengthened counselling sessions with youth.
The city population officer also said the imposition of community quarantine may have contributed to the decreasing trend of teenage pregnancy this year as most young people in the city are staying at home. (ral/PIA7-NegOr)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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