A TOTAL of 750 teenage pregnancies in Davao City have been reported by the City Health Office (CHO) in the first quarter of 2025, higher than in 2024.
Dr. Sharlene Tan, district health physician of CHO, said that the 750 cases represent 11.4 percent of the total number of women who gave birth during the first quarter of 2025.
She said the 11.4 percent rate for the first quarter of 2025 may seem to be a little bit higher than the 10 percent recorded for the entire year of 2024.
However, she said the figure definitely would become much higher, considering that the record is only for the first quarter of this year.
“Probably mag-increase pa pud ni siya kung ing-ani ang trend nato ug hangtod sa mahuman ang tuig (This will probably continue to increase if this trend continues until the end of the year),” she said during the ISpeak media forum, on Thursday morning, May 15, 2025, at the City Mayor’s Office (CMO).
CHO reported that places with increasing numbers of teenage pregnancies are in Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (Gida), as well as in densely populated districts such as Buhangin (71 cases), Marilog (69), Tugbok (64), and Bunawan (61).
Tan noted that every community health center has a population officer who works at the grassroots level, engaging with young people who are experiencing teenage pregnancy.
Dr. Mary Lee Lim, a representative from the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), said that girls who get pregnant at an early age are considered high-risk pregnancies. Many of them are unable to deliver vaginally and instead undergo cesarean section.
“They cannot take care of their children, so yun yung challenge sa atoa, how we can prevent it. Our society we are doing our best to reach out, but we need the help of the city so that we can decrease more ang case sa teenage pregnancy,” she said.
(They cannot take care of their children, so that’s the challenge for us — how we can prevent it. As a society, we are doing our best to reach out, but we need the help of the city so that we can further reduce the cases of teenage pregnancy).
Lim shared that 10 to 12 percent of their monthly admissions at SPMC OB-Gyne are teenage pregnancies. Most of these patients are 17 to 18 years old, but some are as young as 13 to 15. She emphasized that many cases are driven by curiosity, and due to their young age, their frontal cortex is not yet fully developed — resulting in poor judgment and a lack of understanding of the consequences of their actions.
Their department is conducting interactive lectures in schools to educate students on the risks of engaging in premarital sex.
In addition, SPMC operates a teen center that provides family planning orientation and psychological support for teenage mothers and their families. RGP