Info enter opens in Catbalogan, Samar to solve teen pregnancy
TACLOBAN CITY — A teen center was opened in Catbalogan City to address the rising teenage pregnancy problem in Samar province.
The center aimed to improve access of the adolescent population to sexual and reproductive health services and information and, in the process, address the high rates of cases of adolescent pregnancy, according to Reyan Arinto, regional head of the technical services department of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD).
The establishment of the teen center is part of the information and service delivery network (ISDN) for adolescent health of the CPD.
“The teen center will become the physical facility where adolescents can go for adolescent health information, entertainment, while the ISDN is the organizational linkage, which will provide the needed adolescent services,” he said.
Arinto said the facility would offer counseling, skills training, values formative skills, employment services, medical and dental health, and even reproductive health services.
Arinto said the program is funded by the Republic of Korea through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
It is a five-year program which started last year.
Aside from Samar, a similar facility was also launched in Maasin City in Southern Leyte, the other identified beneficiary of the KOICA-funded program.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that 9,794 teenagers in Samar got pregnant in 2020 and 4,826 others in Southern Leyte.
Samar Gov. Sharee Ann Tan welcomed the establishment of the teen center in the province, saying this would help curb the teenage pregnancy in her province.
“This problem is so big that it cannot be solved by one agency. The best way to address this is by collective approach,” she said.
“We need to acknowledge and own the problem, and share it to know what agencies have the capacity to help,” the governor added.
Aside from KOICA and CPD, the program is also being assisted by the Zuellig Foundation, Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Interior and Local Government and the World Health Organizations, United Nations Population Fund, and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency.
KOICA and UN are implementing a P490-million four-year partnership program in Samar and Southern Leyte, as part of their support for the Philippine government’s campaign to reduce the rate of adolescent pregnancy in the country.
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