Filtered By: Lifestyle
Lifestyle

UNFPA report raises alarm over teen pregnancy, adolescent sex in PHL


While teen pregnancy is down in the Asia Pacific region, a United Nations Population Fund report found that adolescent fertility is up the Philippines.

Citing data from 2013, the report says was that one in 10 Filipinas between the ages of 15 and 19 is already a mother or is pregnant with their first child. Teen pregnancy has been on the rise in the country since 2000.

The report also found that 15 percent of adolescent girls who had sex before the age of 15 reported that their first sexual encounter was forced.

It also noted how gender norms in the country push young men to seek sex in their teens.

"Expectations that men should be sexually experienced, or a perception that their status depends on their sexual conquests, contributes to risky sexual behavior, such as early onset of sexual behavior and an increased number of partners," it said.

Data shows that this pushes men to engage in sex with sex workers, which, coupled with inconsistent condom use, heightens the risk of contracting Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and HIV.

The report titled "Sexual and reproductive health of young people in Asia and the Pacific: A review of issues, policies and programmes" includes data from 32 countries in a study done in 2015.

Higher sexual activity

The report shows an increase in sexual activity for young people ages 15 to 24 in the region, while detailing the lack of access to information on sexual and reproductive health, and their lack of critical life-skills needed to manage safe, consensual sexual relationships.

According to UNFPA's Asia-Pacific regional director Yoriko Yasukawa said programs and laws on sexual and reproductive health must keep up with the changing attitudes towards sex and relationships.

"We need to abandon once and for all the idea that leaving young people in ignorance is going to stop them from having sex or that talking about it is going to make them have sex," Yasukasawa said.

She said that part of the right to information and services is the right to talk about sex. Giving them access to this is "the only way to help young people make responsible decisions about their sexual and reproductive health."

The report revealed that close to 11 million unsafe abortions took place in the Asia-Pacific region in 2015 and that roughly 620,000 young adults (15 to 24) are living with HIV across the region.

Gwang-Jo Kim, Director of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok, said that high quality, evidence-based comprehensive sex education are needed to improve these numbers. He also stressed the importance of accurate information for the youth.

"Adolescents and young persons deserve a sound public health response. WHO advocates for enabling the policy environment in all relevant ministries in support of adolescent health and development,"  said Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, World Health Organization for the South-East Asia Region.

She added, "National governments must strengthen the availability and use of strategic information related to health and other development domains of adolescents to design effective programs and monitor their implementation." —JST, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT