Programs and awareness program should continuously be implemented to lessen the increase of early pregnancy, a population commissioner urged.
The commissioner issued the advice after Region XI (Davao Region) record a huge percentage of women childbearing at an early age, according to the National Demographic and Health Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Cheryl Amor, Information Officer of the Commission of Population, said that guidance among children should be the main focus in order to avoid early pregnancy.
“We need to focus on how children and girls can be helped to avoid being mothers while they are still babies themselves,” Amor said during the NDHS Regional Dissemination Forum on Friday at the Pinnacle Hotel and Suites.
She added, “Many children will grow up malnourished, uncared for, uneducated and even poorer than their mothers were.”
PSA’s survey shows that Davao region has the most number of teenage pregnancy and motherhood by region, with women age 15-19.
Davao region’s percentage as compared to the national average is times two from 8.6%\
The survey also shows, at least 16 percent of the teenaged women who have begun child-bearing have had previous live birth, while 2 percent were pregnant with their first child at the time of the survey.
The study noted that the two other Mindanao provinces Northern Mindanao (14.7%) and Soccsksargen (14.5%) placed second and third highest, respectively, in terms of teenage pregnancy rate.
The PSA study showed that teenage pregnancy figures for remaining three Mindanao provinces were 7.5 percent for Zamboanga Peninsula, 8.2 percent for Caraga, and 8.5 percent for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Of the 25,074 women surveyed for the NDHS, at least 5,120 were teenagers from 15 to 19 years old.
