Key Result Area 3 Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Overview As mandated by the RPRH Law, the DepEd, DOH and POPCOM are collaborating to protect young people from early and repeat pregnancies. In the Philippines, teenage pregnancy remains to be a major concern not only because of its serious health implications to both mother and child, but also because of its economic and social consequences to communities and to the country as a whole. Adolescent Reproductive Health and Development is thus placed high in the government’s health and development agenda. DepEd’s Adolescent Reproductive Health (ARH) Education Program aims to increase the number of students and adolescents provided with information, counseling, and referral in an adolescent-friendly setting. DepEd works to, among other initiatives, integrate Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health information into formal, non-formal and indigenous learning for young Filipinos and strives to make sure that educators and counselors are equipped to deliver appropriate counseling and guidance to adolescents. For DOH and POPCOM’s Adolescent Health and Development Program, apart from educating adolescents about responsible sexuality through communication strategies, it is also working to establish and operationalize adolescent-friendly health facilities and teen centers across the country and in various settings. The establishment and mobilization of Information and Service Delivery Networks (ISDNs) with both public and private sector health providers, is also a key strategy. Status,Trends, and Accomplishments Adolescent pregnant mothers are more likely to die compared to pregnant mothers in their 20s26 since pregnancy during adolescence is associated with greater risk of health problems like nutritional anemia, predisposition to unsafe abortions, postpartum hemorrhage, eclampsia, puerperal endometritis, systemic infections, and mental disorders. Children born from adolescent mothers are also at high risk of poorer health outcomes such as low birth weight, higher incidence of pre-term births, infant morbidities, and mortalities. 26 “Adolescent Pregnancy”.World Health Organization, 31 January 2020. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-pregnancy The Population Reference Bureau stated that teenage mothers and their children face elevated risks of poverty and health problems which make preventing unplanned teenage births a public policy priority.27 A study on the economic impact of teenage pregnancies28 also emphasized that adolescents who have begun childbearing were less likely to complete secondary education resulting to a significant decrease in total life earnings. 27 Scommegna, P. (January 2018). Contraceptive Methods,Violent Relationships,Teenagers’ Perceptions Play a Role in Unintended U.S. Teenage Births 28 Herrin, A. (2016). Education, Earnings, and Health Effects of Teenage Pregnancy in the Philippines. United Nations Population Fund. 63 63 2019 2019Annual Annual Report Report Responsible Responsible Parenthood Parenthood and and Reproductive Reproductive Health HealthAct Act of of 2012 2012