POPCOM JOINS UN BODY CALLING FOR WOMEN, GIRLS’ RIGHTS

POPCOM joins UN body calling for women, girls’

rights By Matt Joe Ian F. Gonzaga

The Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) launched online the State of the World Population Report in the country managing the global challenge of protecting the rights of women and girls to bodily autonomy by providing quality information and on Family Planning.

According to Dr. Leila Joudane, Philippines’ representative to United Nations Population Fund, the Philippines has 47 births annually per 1000 women aged 15-19 years, higher than the average adolescent birth rate of 44 globally and 33.5 in the ASEAN region.

Dr. Joudane highlighted that in every five girls, one is already a mother by age 19, which triggers the need for education regarding teenage pregnancy and sexuality to adolescents.

Meanwhile, POPCOM Executive Director Dr. Juan Antonio A. Perez III said that unplanned and unintended pregnancy is also considered a global pandemic labeling adolescent pregnancy as a national health emergency.

He underscored the Commission’s effort, local government units, and the Department of Education in capacitating adolescents to their full potential by educating them through the right path and disclosing the negative impact of early sex that concludes unwanted pregnancy.

Dir. Perez also urged its regional offices to support the needs of the local government units to family planning services and quality information for the concrete implementation of the Philippine Population Management Program to the grassroots level.

Despite registering encouraging numbers in the level of Filipino women’s decisionmaking on healthcare, as well as their sexual and reproductive health and rights or SRHR, the country’s 20 million-plus young people continue to struggle in implementing their gender rights, which still account for the high prevalence of child marriages and intimate partner violence associated with adolescent pregnancies.

Attending the online launching on May 20, 2021, are the focal persons from the United Nations Population Fund, National Economic Development Authority, POPCOM executives, regional officials, and other partner agencies. (POPCOM Caraga)