Building Partnerships and Resources to Curb Teenage Pregnancy As of 2019, Senate Bill 1888 “An Act Providing for a National Policy in Preventing Teenage Pregnancies, Institutionalizing Social Protection for Teenage Parents, and Providing Funds Therefor”, was approved on third reading while the House version (House Bill 4742) was consolidated and substituted in the Committee level. Both bills aim to give solutions to the health and social problems of teenage pregnancy by dealing with the lack of proper information of the youth and lack of access to relevant reproductive health services. The bill would mandate more social protection programs for teenage mothers, comprehensive, age-appropriate sexuality education to better inform adolescents about sex, gender, and reproductive health issues. During the same year, the Manila Declaration on Addressing the Education, Health, and Development Issues on Early Pregnancy was released to the public during the Teen Pregnancy Summit held last August 2019. The Declaration represented the unified interest and commitment of various stakeholders, namely, government, civil society organizations, faith-based organizations, and youth sector representatives in pursuing priority actions to address the burgeoning issue of teenage pregnancy in the country. The National Adolescent and Youth Health DevelopmentTechnical Working Group (NAYHD-TWG) was also organized to ensure convergence of leaders in adolescent health from national government agencies, non-government organizations and development partners. Ensuring Greater Access to Maternal, Newborn, Child Health and Nutrition Services Notable policy issuances that help achieve the twin goals of maternal mortality and neonatal mortality reduction through improved service delivery were developed by various national government agencies. Some of these major policies are enumerated below: 1. Philippine Framework for Triple Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of Syphilis, Hepatitis B and HIV; 2. DOH Administrative Order No. 2019-0026: National Policy in the Provision of Birthing Assistance to Primigravid and Multigravid Women; 3. DOH Department Circular No. 20190436: Moratorium for the Implementation of Selected Sections of the Implementing Guidelines of Administrative Order (AO) No. 2019- 0026 entitled, “National Policy in the Provision of Birthing Assistance to Primigravid and Grand Multigravid Women; 4. DOH-DepEd Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1, s. 2019 “Measles Outbreak Response and Prevention of Transmission in Schools”; 5. Development of the Infant and Young Child Feeding (LYCF) 2019 to 2030 issued though Department Circular 2019-0537; and 6. Department Memorandum No. 20190460 “Submission of Data Supporting the Implementation of the Mother and BabyFriendly Hospital Initiative (MBFHI) be provided by the Regional Program Coordinators (MBFHI/IYCF/Newborn)”. Improving Insurance Coverage for People Living with HIV Following the enactment of Republic Act No. 11166: An Act Strengthening the Philippine Comprehensive Policy on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Prevention, Treatment, Care, and Support, and, Reconstituting the Philippine National Aids Council (PNAC), Repealing for the Purpose Republic Act No. 8504, Otherwise Known as The “Philippine Aids Prevention and Control Act of 1998”, and Appropriating Funds Therefore, PNAC developed policy guidelines to operationalize the provisions of the said law. PNAC Resolution No. 1 contained the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 11166 strongly prohibits discriminatory acts towards the HIV status, actual or perceived, of individuals. This particularly helps in improving the health coverage of people living with HIV (PLHIV) as 26 2019 Annual Report Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents