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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Hontiveros: PH will face public health crisis if fails to address multiple health emergencies

Hontiveros: PH will face public health crisis if fails to address multiple health emergencies

Published Nov 4, 2019 09:14 am

Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Monday that the country could face a public health crisis in a few years if it fails to address existing multiple health emergencies.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros (Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN)

Sen. Risa Hontiveros
(Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN)

“We are in the middle of multiple health emergencies, pagtaas ng teenage pregnancy, pinakamataas ng rise in HIV and AIDS incidents sa Asia Pacific region, outbreaks and epidemics , dengue, measles, polio, diphtheria at saka yung pagbagsak ng ating vaccination rates to address teenage pregnancy and other multiple health emergencies,” Hontiveros said in an interview with ANC’s Early Edition.

Hontiveros, chair of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, said that the country needs a comprehensive solution to address the current health emergencies.

“Otherwise, pag-hindi natin tinugunan, pag-hindi natin naagapan itong multiple health emergencies where in the middle of right now, in several years we can face a public health crisis,” she said.

The senator also said that the wrong implementation of the existing laws was to blame for the high number of teenage pregnancies in the country.

“I think kakulangan sa implementation ng mga batas na meron na tayo including the age appropriate sexual and reproductive health education na nandun na sa Reproductive Health (RH) Law, also in the 17th Congress we passed on third and final reading in the Senate the Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Bill,” she said.

Hontiveros said that the existing laws, aside from the Reproductive Health (RH) law and Universal Health Care (UHC) Law, should be given full funding and implementation.

“We have to be proactive about the education, full implementation ng mga existing na batas aside from the RH Law, dapat full funding and implementation ang Universal Health Care (UHC) Law. Nakakalungkot why are we in the middle of this multiple health emergencies kung kakapasa lang natin ng UHC Law. So we should be proactive in full implementing of this law. Yung mental health law din yung HIV and AIDS law,” she added.

According to Commission on Population and Development (PopCom), there are about 1.2 million adolescents having children yearly, some of them as young as 10 years old and about 30,000 young mothers have already experienced repeated pregnancies.

Based on the 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey, one in every 10 Filipino women aged 15 to 19 is already a mother or pregnant with her first child, concluding that early pregnancy is more prevalent among poor households. (with a report from Hannah Torregoza)

READ MORE: De Lima wants Senate to look into alarming rise in teenage pregnancies

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