Among all other concerns, early teenage pregnancy is considered as the “most important problem” of women in the Philippines at this time.
In a dissemination forum organized by the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) and the Commission on Population (PopCom), the latest data on adolescent pregnancy and top concerns of women in the Philippines during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic were discussed.
Among the panelists were Social Weather Stations (SWS) Deputy Director Vladymir Joseph Licudine presented the “Survey on Family Planning, Awareness of POPCOM and most important problems of women today.”
The said survey was conducted from Nov. 21 to 25, 2020 with 1,500 sample respondents. “This is our first and only survey face-to-face in 2020 because we were affected by the pandemic,” he explained.
Among the topics covered in the survey include the most important problem (MIP) of women today, Adequacy of government efforts in solving the MIP of women, usage and sources of family planning, people whom one has spoken about family planning, and sources of information about family planning.
“Filipinos think that the mots important problem of women today is early teenage pregnancy with 59 percent followed by physical violence and unexpected pregnancy with 11 percent each,” Licudine said.
Licudine added that among those who mentioned the problem, “57 percent think that the government efforts are adequate” with 23 percent answering “very adequate” and 34 percent responding “somewhat adequate.”
“One out of four or 27 percent adult Filipinos are presently using or have used family planning (FP) methods in the past six months,” Licudine said. “Among the users of FP, pill is the preferred method used with 14 percent of users,” he added.
Licudine noted that among users of family planning, 45 percent have availed of their FP in rural health units (RHUs), 31% in Barangay Health Stations (BHS) and 27 percent in pharmacies.
Meanwhile, Licudine explained that private health professionals such as doctors, nurses, midwives, and assistant midwives and barangay health workers (BHWs), with 12 percent each, are the “people whom one has spoken to about FP.”
Licudine also noted that BHWs are also the “top source of information about family planning” with 46 percent followed by television with 23 percent.
Aside from most important concerns of women during the pandemic, in which teen pregnancy topped the list, the 2019 data released by Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) was also discussed.
Earlier, the PSA has announced that births among young adolescent girls below 15 years old went up by 7 percent in 2019 compared to 2018. The total number of Filipino children who became mothers in 2019 increased slightly to 62,510 from 62,341 in 2018. This is the ninth year since 2011 that this figure has continued to rise.