COVID-19 crisis may increase births in PH to almost 2 million: POPCOM | ABS-CBN

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COVID-19 crisis may increase births in PH to almost 2 million: POPCOM

COVID-19 crisis may increase births in PH to almost 2 million: POPCOM

Rose Carmelle Lacuata,

ABS-CBN News

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Pregnant women wait at the CSV Maternity and Lying-in Clinic in Quezon City, October 02, 2018. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/file

MANILA - Around 2 million women of reproductive age could get pregnant this year, the Commission on Population and Development said Thursday, citing a study that claimed thousands of women faced family planning problems amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In an article posted Thursday on its website, POPCOM said nearly 2 million women between the age of 15 to 49 may get pregnant this year.

Citing a recent study by the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), POPCOM said there are 3,099,000 women with unmet need for family planning, exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis.

With family-planning services impeded by the pandemic, an additional 590,000 may be added to the figure, bringing the total to 3,688,000, or a 19 percent jump.

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The additional pregnancies may push the number of births to 1.9 million in 2021, the highest since 2000, at 1.790 million births.

POPCOM also said there may be a 9.3 percent surge in teen pregnancies. From an initial estimate of 163,000 teenagers, aged 15 to 19, with unmet need for family planning, the lockdown will add an additional 15,000, bringing the total to 178,000.

POPCOM also expects a 2.2 percent drop in the use of modern family planning methods, or more than 400,000 women dropping out of the country's family planning program.

“Looking at these numbers, we foresee that because of the restrictions of movement as well as the reduction of access of women and men to family planning supplies, there will be at least one pregnancy for every three women with an unmet need for family planning,” Undersecretary Juan Antonio Perez III, POPCOM’s executive director, explained.

"Those are just some of the adverse impacts of the community quarantine to the welfare of our families, which further aggravates the situation of the ongoing health crisis," he added.

Perez said the staggering figures should be a sign for people to still put family-planning on top-of-mind, as everyone can make a difference in helping reduce the incidences of unplanned pregnancies.

POPCOM reiterated the numerous measures for family planning currently in-place, such as the home delivery of 3 months' worth of family planning commodities such as pills and condoms for those who have enlisted to the government's family planning program.

Health centers are also open to accomodate women who wish to avail of injectables.

POPCOM also has active helplines and chat features on its Usap Tayo sa Family Planning Facebook page.

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