Mindanaotoday.com | 1,834 teens in Oro gave birth in 2021
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Some 1,834 teenage girls in Cagayan de Oro, including 50 who were 10 to 14 years old, gave birth last year, the City Health Office reported Monday, August 22.
City Health Officer Rachel Dilla, in a weekly press briefing at City Hall, said that although last year’s data was lower than the 2,252 teenage moms in 2020, still pregnancy among 10 to 14 age-group is alarming.
“They are just Grade 4, 5 or 6 students and had to stop schooling due to pregnancy,” said Dilla and that the 1,784 who at 15 to 18 years old had to stay home to take care of their babies, instead of being in school.
Based on data the CHO chief presented, incidence of teenage pregnancy in the city has tapered from 2,995 in 2019 and 2,859 in 2018. Also, there were corresponding reductions in teenage birth rates: 33.37 for every 1,000 population in 2021 from highs of 47.37 and 46.26 in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
But the number of pregnancies among 10 to 14 girls has not changed much in the last four years with last year’s 50, 48 in 2020, 50 in 2019, and 51 in 2018.
Dilla said the city succeeded in bringing down the teenage birth rate last year to 33.37 which was below the national objective of 37.00 per 1,000 population of those aged 18 to 10 years old. It was 38.57 in 2020.
But Dilla’s presentation showed teenage birth rates in nearby areas like Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon remained above the targeted national birth rates: 48.11 in 2021, 60.30 in 2020, 80.90 in 2019, and 79.85 in 2018.
These data, she said, were generated because of Information and Service Delivery Network (ISDN) for adolescent health and development which has been in place in the city due to The Challenge Initiative (TCI).
Dilla said they know how many teenage girls had given birth because of mandatory reporting for hospitals, including the submission of birth certificates. Birthing facilities are prohibited to attend to pregnant girls 18 years old and below.
Aside from the ISDN, TCI boosted the operations of the Oro Youth Center, and facilitated the establishments of 24 teen centers in various public high school campuses.
TCI is a package of interventions for adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health (AYSRH) that was piloted in Cagayan de Oro, along with Dipolog and Puerto Princesa cities that year. It is backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health which is based at the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland, USA.
In the Philippines, TCI is co-managed by Zuellig Family Foundation in cooperation with the Population Commission.
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