Every year, approximately 12 million girls aged between 15 to 19 years, and at least 777,000 girls under 15 years, give birth in developing regions of the world.
In 2016, a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report stated that the Philippines has the highest number of teen pregnancies across Asia. Multiple partners and low condom use were some of the factors cited for the increase in birth rates. Moreover, the UNFPA suggested that one in 10 young Filipino women age 15 to 19 is already a mother.
According to the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM), a Philippine government agency, the number of pregnant children below 15 in the archipelago has doubled in the past 10 years.
Juan Antonio Perez III, POPCOM’s Executive Director said pregnancies among children aged between 10 to 14 years old went up to 2,200 in 2018, more than double the 1,000 recorded in 2007.
"We have roughly... 40 to 50, 10-year-old children giving birth every year," he explained.
Recently, the agency revealed that the country has recorded a seven percent increase in births among girls aged 15 and below in 2019, up from the figure for teenage pregnancies in 2018.
Early pregnancy among adolescents results in major health consequences for young mothers and their babies, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The UN agency said that pregnancy and childbirth complications are the leading causes of death among adolescent girls globally, with low-and middle-income countries accounting for 99 percent of global maternal deaths of females aged between 15 to 49 years old.
Other than that, the WHO also stated that teenage pregnancies have led to some 3.9 million unsafe abortions among girls aged between 15 to 19 years old per year, contributing to maternal mortality, morbidity, and lasting health problems.
In the Philippines, teen pregnancy gets more problematic each year. The government there labelled it a national social emergency in 2019. However, the issue has now worsened amid the coronavirus pandemic.
COVID-19 Crisis
At the time of writing, the Philippines has registered over 670,000 COVID-19 cases nationwide with nearly 13,000 deaths to date. In recent days, the country has been reporting over 7,000 cases daily, hitting its highest daily tally yesterday when it reported 8,019 infections in 24 hours.
Like elsewhere around the world, the pandemic has affected livelihoods, businesses, and the economy in the Philippines.
A report by Save the Children titled, “Global Girlhood 2020: COVID-19 and Progress in Peril” showed that a dramatic surge in child marriages and adolescent pregnancies is expected during the pandemic, due to the economic impacts of the health crisis.
“Early pregnancy robs teenage girls of their childhood and deprives them of their right to survival, education, and a future. Children, especially girls, remain at the side line of the global COVID-19 response, yet, they face the worst impact of the pandemic that threatens their lives and destroys their future,” said Alberto Muyot, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children Philippines.
Back in November 2020, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey found that Filipinos think that teenage pregnancy is the “most important problem of women today” in the Philippines. The data showed that 59 percent believed that early adolescent pregnancy was the most important problem, followed by physical violence at 11 percent and unexpected pregnancy at 11 percent.
According to POPCOM, at the end of 2020, more than 70,000 families were led by minors. However, the agency warned that this number will dramatically rise to 133,265 by the end of 2021.
Disrupted Services
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted family planning and maternal and new born health services globally. In the Philippines, these indirect effects may significantly increase annual maternal deaths and unintended pregnancies during the pandemic compared to the pre-COVID years, suggested a study conducted by the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) and UNFPA.
The study indicates that attention and resources for women’s health might be diverted as the national and local health systems are overwhelmed by the necessary response to COVID patients.
Local Senator Risa Hontiveros, shared the same sentiment, stating that the country’s health system has undergone a “COVID-ization,” which means budgets for reproductive health programmes have been diverted to the COVID-19 response, making it harder for women and girls to access birth control during the pandemic.
Nevertheless, even prior to the pandemic, contraceptive access has long been a complicated and divisive problem in the country. Birth control is a taboo in the Philippines where 80 percent of the population identifies as Catholic.
The ASEAN member state passed a reproductive health bill into law in 2012. Nevertheless, as contraception is highly stigmatised, health experts believe it will take years, if not decades, to change the culture.
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