Teen pregnancy incidence among adolescents aged 10 to 19 years old declined in 2020, according to a report released by the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM).
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) looked at registered live births and found that the number of 10–19-year-olds who gave birth in the MIMAROPA region went down in 2020.
The report recorded 63 live births among girls aged 10 to 14 years and 4,650 among the 15 to 19 age group in the region in 2020.
The numbers were lower than in 2019, with 67 for 10 to 14-year-olds and 5,210 live births for 15 to 19-year-olds.
“This is good news for us and our partners who have been advocating for a reduction in teen pregnancies. This shows that all the health, population, and social workers in local government units have stepped up their services towards adolescent health to be able to achieve this goal,” POPCOM executive director Juan Antonio Perez III said in a statement.
In 2020, there were 1,604 live births among girls ages 10 to 19 in Palawan. This was followed by 1,158 in Oriental Mindoro, 897 in Occidental Mindoro, 423 in Romblon, and 317 in Marinduque.
Puerto Princesa City has registered a total of 312 live births, POPCOM said.
POPCOM-MIMAROPA Regional Director Reynaldo O. Wong also said that amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, POPCOM-MIMAROPA has successfully reached out to local government units and relevant partner agencies in the implementation of the Adolescent Health and Development (AHD) Program, primarily aimed at increasing the awareness among teens of the importance of responsible sexuality and reproductive health.
Wong said that initiatives and efforts should be continued, to maintain the decline of teenage live births.
“It is too early to rest on our laurels as more work should be done and scaled up to continue this decline,” Wong said.
He also said that Executive Order No. 141 has put in place a comprehensive plan to deal with the rising number of teen pregnancies in the region.