DOH to Hold Youth Summit on Teenage Pregnancy

Tuguegarao City, Cagayan (PIA) – – In an effort to reduce teenage pregnancy rate in Region 2, the Department of Health (DOH) is set to conduct the first adolescent health youth summit on November 24-26, 2015 in Baguio City.

Remedios Peleo, focal person on family planning, said the summit aims to heighten consciousness and raise awareness on teen pregnancy and its consequences as well as to encourage young individuals’ participation in addressing this concern.

She said the summit is an important venue to identify action plans and strategies for sustainable interventions to address the problem of teenage pregnancy.

Peleo said the participants are from the region’s top most cities and municipalities with high incidence of teenage pregnancy to include Baggao and Bayombong towns and the cities of Tuguegarao, Santiago and Ilagan.

She said the young participants, who will be trained on how to handle peers’ serious problems like premarital sex, substance abuse, juvenile delinquency and other adolescent health practices and behaviors, will serve as advocates of adolescent health to lessen if not to totally eradicate teen pregnancy incidence in the region.

She added that based on the Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey (YAFSS) result, Region 2 was second with the highest teen pregnancy nationwide, next to the Cordillera Administrative Region. (ALM/OTB/PIA-2/Cagayan)