MANILA,
Philippines - The Philippines stands to benefit from its large population of
young people, but to realize the demographic dividends, teenage girls must have
access to quality education and youth-friendly health services as they prepare
for working age, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said yesterday.
According
to UNFPA country representative Klaus Beck, adolescent girls aged 10-19
currently make up 10 percent of the Philippines’ 100 million population.
“They
hold enormous opportunity to transform the future of the Philippines but this
can only happen if they have the right information and skills and are healthy
and empowered to make informed decisions in life,” he said.
He issued
the statement as World Population Day was celebrated yesterday.
Beck
underscored the need to take action, citing a study spearheaded by the National
Economic and Development Authority and supported by UNFPA, called the
“Demographic Sweet Spot and Dividend in the Philippines: The Window of
Opportunity is Closing Fast.”
The study
showed the “high probability that the Philippines will miss the rare
opportunity of additional economic growth.”
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This is
due to the relatively high fertility rate, or the average number of children by
women, especially the poorest, and the relatively high unemployment rate,
particularly among the youth sector.
Philippine celebration
World
Population Day was commemorated at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila with
the participation of some 2,000 teenage girls.
The event
was spearheaded by the Commission on Population.
Health
Undersecretary Gerardo Bayugo said there is a need to combine the efforts of
the government and non-governmental organizations to address the rising teenage
pregnancy in the country.
“We need
to inspire our teenage girls… They need special care. Not only because they are
the future. They will give life and nurture the future of our country,” Bayugo
said.
This
year’s event was highlighted by the launching of the “BABAEnihan” campaign
which seeks national attention to issues that affect the future of young women.
It is a
call for stakeholders to work together to expand opportunities for girls
through investments in their education, health, and wellbeing.
Beck said
this year’s theme about investing in adolescent girls is particularly relevant
and urgent because teenage girls are among the marginalized sectors of society
in terms of accessing social services that respond to their real needs.
He added
that based on a new study of the UNFPA, adolescent fertility has gone down in
all countries in the Asia-Pacific region, except for the Philippines.
Among the
Filipino girls aged 15-19, about one in 10 has given birth.
Instruments for transformation
Vice
President Leni Robredo also joined the call for more investments in the
education and health of teenage girls, saying that women “are the hope for our
nation’s transformation.”
“Embrace
the soft power of your femininity. There is strength in being a girl. You are
the hope for our nation’s transformation,” Robredo said in a speech, read by
her eldest daughter Aika at the World Population Day celebration in Manila.
Robredo
skipped the World Population Day celebration to attend her first Cabinet
meeting in Malacañang.
Meanwhile,
the Department of Education (DepEd) also enjoined schools and community leaders
to make sure that female students are given an education that will empower them.
“Let us
grow young females whose rights, needs, well-being, and potentials are not
compromised or violated. Let us take strides to allow our young women to lead
and have a voice that’s heard,” the agency said in a statement.
DepEd
noted that despite the world’s achievements in gender equality, teenage girls
remain vulnerable and compromised by social and economic disparities.
In many
parts of the world, girls are deemed, even forced, by their community and their
families to be ready for marriage and childbirth, DepEd said.
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