ON Wednesday, the Department of Social Welfare (DSWD) announced an upcoming program called “ProtecTEEN”— a social welfare intervention on where teenage moms and their partner will be provided psychosocial support and other interventions.
DSWD assistant secretary Irene Dumalo–the program was quoted as saying that the project is in line with the national priority to prevent and address the growing rate of teenage pregnancy in the country.
According to the data by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the Commission on Population and Development (CPD), it is reported that the total number of live births by teen moms rose 10.15% from 136,302 in 2021 to 150,138 in 2022.
Meanwhile, the number of live births from girls aged 14 and below increased 35.13% from 2,320 in 2021 and 3,135 in 2022.
“Layunin nito improve ang psychological well-being nung mga kabataan, magkaron ng mga family healing sessions, magkaron ng family case management, mag-intorodce ng mga livelihood or educational assistance sa kanila, at mapagpabuti ang kanilang kapasidad bilang mga maagang mga magulang,” Dumalo said in the interview on Unang Balita.
She also pointed out on how early pregnancy affects the psychological well-being of an individual especially when the person who’s pregnant is a teenager. She also added on how the pregnancy affects their academic performance, resulting in them to drop out of school to avoid embarrassment.
The program is aimed to serve adolescent mothers age 10 to 19 years old including their partners, parents, and other household members.
