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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider POPCOM, DSWD team up to uplift lives of teen moms and their kids

POPCOM, DSWD team up to uplift lives of teen moms and their kids

Published Jun 10, 2021 03:29 pm

The Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) now have a partnership for the implementation of programs benefitting teenage mothers and their children.

DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito D. Bautista and POPCOM Undersecretary Juan Antonio Perez III ink a pact for the rollout of programs toward the social protection of teenage mothers and their children. (Photo from Commission on Population and Development)

This, after Undersecretary for Population and Development Juan Antonio Perez III and DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) during a virtual ceremony on Thursday, June 10.

Under the agreement, the agencies will develop an information system to identify teen moms and their children in the country, as well as the health services that they can access.

The young mothers will also be given nutritional support, mental health care, and the ability to return to school.

The benefits will also include a social amelioration program aimed at supporting those in the lowest socioeconomic bracket until they are able to find gainful work or livelihood.

"It has been established that adolescent mothers are at a gross disadvantage in terms of potential earnings in their lifetime, making them more economically vulnerable in life compared to their peers who have finished secondary education and have yet to bear children," Perez said during the event.

"Likewise, their condition will bear heavily on a families’ savings by about one-third of every unplanned pregnancy. Thus, we see this social protection initiative as a means to ease their financial burdens," he added.

The national government earlier directed POPCOM and the DSWD to join hands in undertaking a social protection mechanism to alleviate the financial burdens of adolescent mothers aged 10 to 19, as well as their families.

According to the POPCOM chief, the number of early childbirth rates remains high in the Philippines, which ranks fourth among Southeast Asian countries.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (PSA-CRVS) showed that there were about 171 live births born to minors every day in 2019.

It also noted a general increase in the number of births from very young adolescents aged 10 to 14 in that same year, with about seven live births born to children every day, compared to three daily in 2011.

The PSA-CRVS also revealed that in 2015, there were 5,297 repeat pregnancies, or second-time births, among 10- to 17-year-old girls, with only a slight decrease in 2018 at 4,633.

Related Tags

61021 Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) adolescent pregnancy teenage mothers Teenage pregnancy Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) Juan Antonio Perez III
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