A recent Social Weather Survey (SWS) revealed that early teenage pregnancy was the top problem of women today.
A survey module on women’s concerns and family planning, implemented within the November 21-25, 2020 Social Weather Survey, was sponsored by the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM).
The following are the findings:
- Filipinos say the most important problem of women today is early teenage pregnancy (59%), followed by physical violence and unexpected pregnancy (11% each).
- Among those who mentioned a problem, 57% say the government efforts to solve it are adequate (consisting of 23% very adequateand 34% somewhat adequate).
- One out of four (27%) adult Filipinos are presently using or have used family planning (FP) methods in the past six months.
- Among FP users, pill is the preferred method used by 14%.
- Among FP users, 45% have availed of their FP in Rural Health Units, 31% in Barangay Health Stations (BHS) and 27% in Pharmacies.
- Private health professionals such as doctors, nurses, midwives, and assistant midwives and Barangay Health Workers (BHW) (12% each) are the people whom one has spoken to about FP.
- BHWs are the top sources of information on family planning with 46%, followed by television with 23%.
Early this month, PopCom reported that around seven Filipino girls aged 14 and below give birth in the Philippines every day.
SWS: Teenage pregnancy top problem of women today
PopCom said the number of births among girls 14 and younger increased by seven percent in 2019 compared with 2018’s figures given by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“In 2019, 2,411 girls considered as very young adolescents aged 10 to 14 gave birth,” PopCom said.
This number translates to almost seven births daily, a 300% increase from 2000 when only 755 from this age group gave birth, the Commission added.
It stressed out that the Philippines, for the ninth year, recorded a continuous increase in teenage pregnancies since 2011.
Calabarzon recorded the highest number of births among children with 8,008, followed by the National Capital Region (NCR or Metro Manila) with 7,546, and Central Luzon with 7,523.
Meanwhile, teenage pregnancy was also high in Northern Mindanao (4,747), Davao (4,551), and Central Visayas (4,541). In total, the number of children who gave birth in 2019 increased to 62,510 compared to 62,341 in 2018.