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CONTENTS NATION WORLD BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY HEALTH/LIFESTYLE
TECHNOLOGY
The Perils of Early Pregnancy
1eenage ch|dbearng poses sgncant rsks to the hea|th and |ves of both young
women and ther offsprng
STRATEGY POINTS
1he number of teenage pregnances n the
Ph|ppnes has ncreased by about 70% from
2000 to 2010
1here are dfferng reasons drvng teenage
pregnances n countres across Asa, but
nonethe|ess, comp|catons n pregnancy s
the |eadng k||er of young women aged 15 to
19 around the wor|d
1here are steps that can be taken by
government po|cy-makers to he|p ndvdua|s
and communtes reduce the rsks from
teenage pregnances, f not teenage
pregnances themse|ves
By Pia Rufno
Jounn CubIIIus wus jusL 1 yeurs oId wIen sIe hrsL
got pregnant six years ago. Currently, the teen mother
wIo dIdn`L geL Lo hnIsI Ier sLudIes, sLIII IIves wILI Ier
parent, and works as a part-time waitress to feed her
children whose father is in jail, she recounts to Qatar-
based news network Al Jazeera.
TIe number oI Leenuge moLIers (1 Lo 1q yeurs oId)
In LIe PIIIIppInes wIo Iud LIeIr hrsL buby Ius rIsen
Irom 1o,;zq In zooo Lo 1;q,o8 In zo1o-u neurIy
68% Increuse over 1o yeurs, per data from National
SLuLIsLIcs Oce (NSO) posted on the Catholic Bishops
Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website last
monLI. IkewIse, LIe hgures Ior gIrIs uged 1q und beIow
rose from 616 to 1,260 during the same period. By
2010, more than a quarter of all women who gave birth
Lo LIeIr hrsL cIIId were 1 Lo 1q yeurs oId. (See LubIe on
opposite page)
Philippines teenage-pregnancy rate 2nd highest
in ASEAN. The 2011 State of the World Population
released by the United Nations Population Fund Agency
presents the most recent estimates of adolescent birth
rates by country. Among the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries, the
Philippines has the second-highest teenage pregnancy
ruLe, wILI Leenuge bIrLIs Ior every 1,ooo women,
next to Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (Laos) with
110/1,000 women. The adolescent birth rate per 1,000
women In boLI ndonesIu und CumbodIu Is z, IoIIowed
by TIuIIund (q), VIeLnum (), BruneI (z6), Myunmur
(1;) MuIuysIu (1z) und SIngupore ().