BAGUIO CITY – Adolescent and teenage pregnancies have been on the rise here amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

City Health Service Office head Rowena Galpo said adolescent and teen pregnancies increased from 21.93 percent in 2019 to 24.9 percent in 2020 compared to the target of less than 37 per 1,000 females aged five- to 19-years-old.

Galpo assured, however, that much has been done in this service area and her office continues to work with other concerned departments and agencies, including parental care.

“This steady collaboration will surely improve the health concerns of the city’s adolescents and youth,” Galpo said.

On the other hand, the city’s modern contraceptive prevalence rate increased from a low 13 percent in 2019 to a more respectable 21 percent in 2020 compared to the target of 27 percent.

Galpo said decreases in accomplishments were due to COVID-19 community quarantines that discouraged residents from going to health facilities.

Meanwhile, the city’s target of 90 percent fully immunized children fell to 40.39 percent last year.

The decrease can be partly explained, Galpo said, by policy constraints and created fear of exposing children outside, including bringing them to health facilities due to the ongoing pandemic.