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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider KOICA launches program to address adolescent pregnancy

KOICA launches program to address adolescent pregnancy

Published Feb 21, 2023 10:40 am

THE Korea International Cooperation Agency on Monday, Feb. 20, launched a program to adolescent pregnancies in Southern Leyte and Samar in Tacloban City. (Marie Tonette Marticio)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and national government and United Nations (UN) agencies launched a project that aims to address the high rates of adolescent pregnancies in Southern Leyte and Samar here on Monday, Feb. 20.

The Korean government, through KOICA, has extended a P490-million grant for the project called “Accelerating the Reduction of Adolescent Pregnancy in Southern Leyte and Samar in the Philippines.”

The project aims to improve access of the adolescent population to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and information, to raise their self-awareness on sexual and reproductive health and rights, as well as to enhance leadership and governance on adolescent sexual and reproductive health.

KOICA Country Director Kim Eunsub said the agency is committed to supporting the Philippines in its goals to achieve a healthy life and access to universal healthcare, including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health for adolescents.

"This project is very important to us because the Korean government has the country partnership strategy. The health sector is a very crucial sector for the benefit of the government and Filipino people," he said.

DOH officer-in-charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the reproductive health program remains a priority for the government under the Reproductive Health Care Law.

"What we have right now is intensifying all of these efforts because this sexual and reproductive health program would be the core program for us to be able to address teenage pregnancy in the country," she said.

Vergeire said that teenage pregnancy has been declared by the government as a national social emergency which deprives many young Filipinos of their future.

She added that they will continue to seek the support of their partners to achieve the universality of health through a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach.

According to the World Bank, the Philippines has one of the highest adolescent birth rates among the major economies in Southeast Asia.

In November 2022, KOICA, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children International Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization (WHO) inked an agreement on the joint program until 2026.

Leading the joint program steering committee is the Department of Health (DOH) with the UN Resident Coordinator, Gustavo Gonzalez, as co-chair. Members are the four UN agencies, KOICA, the Department of Education (DepEd), and the governors of Samar and Southern Leyte.

Related Tags

adolescent pregnancy koica UN Samar Project Southern Leyte
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