Curbing adolescent pregnancies takes focus in TCI partnership with LGUs

MANILA, Philippines – It always takes a village to raise a child. The Challenge Initiative (TCI) Philippines, staying true to its “Business Unusual” approach, helps cities to plan well for its children and adolescents to provide them with safe and healthy environment where they are given the security they need to develop and function fully as members of the community.  

Under the program, 24 cities in the country are implementing high-impact practices in Family Planning (FP) and Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH). On November 6-9, TCI executive director Dr. Kojo Lokko, visited the country to learn with the hub team and take a deep dive at the program’s impact at the city level. 

During the six-day visit, Lokko was able to visit the cities of San Jose in Nueva Ecjia and Naga in Camarines Sur, attend a workshop organized by the Manila Health Department, and talk to members of the Pasig City Leadership Team.

“Good numbers are coming to my table; but seeing it in person is totally different and a much better way to say that ‘Oh! This is how things are done in San Jose City,” he said, during his pit stop at San Jose City in Nueva Ecija. Lokko further acknowledged the achievements of the program, as co-managed by the Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) in the Philippines. 

The TCI Philippine Hub senior management team and the city’s focal persons facilitated and accompanied Lokko, to ensure his full understanding and appreciation of TCI’s work in the country and see how the Philippine contexts affect implementation and mainstreaming of FP and ASRH interventions among and into urban populations. 

San Jose City in Nueva Ecija presents one of TCI PH’s success stories. It boasts a controlled adolescent birth rate of 33 per 1,000 girls and a modern contraceptive prevalence rate of 33%, surpassing Department of Health (DOH) national benchmarks. The city’s growing number of adolescent-friendly health facilities significantly contributed to these accomplishments. 

During Lokko’s visit, the city’s health officials showcased the readiness of its rural health units and public hospitals to provide FP and ASRH services on a 24/7 basis. Their aim is to foster positive health-seeking behavior among the intended target groups.

“Without TCI, we could have been beset by a larger problem attributed to uncontrolled teenage pregnancy. We thank you for helping us manage our family planning and teenage pregnancy problem here in San Jose City,” said Mayor Mario “Kokoy” Salvador.

In Naga City, Lokko and the PH team witnessed how teen hubs are emerging as safe spaces in public schools, as enforced by a breakthrough ASRH ordinance passed earlier this year. In these hubs, students can ask for health advice, stay for some “me time” or have a peer educator to listen to their struggles as a young person.

The TCI team visited the Concepcion Pequena National High School Teen Hub, where trained teen facilitators recounted invaluable experiences in guiding adolescent students. 

“Having someone to talk to, having someone to affirm that ‘Yes, I have to get up and face the day’s challenges of being a student and the value of moving on is critical because, as adolescents, we are more comfortable to tell our stories to those who are of the same age,” said Jane, one of the teen facilitators.

As a takeaway from his deep dive into Naga City’s initiatives to curb adolescent pregnancies, Lokko underscored the need for mechanisms to reach out to everyone, including boys. He ended his talk with the city leadership team by reminding them to prioritize learning from mistakes along the way rather than focusing on perfecting a program. 

“Push for scaling up. We must build the boat as we sail,” he said.

Addressing challenges in Pasig City, the TCI team and city health leaders discussed communication gaps and a lack of synergy among relevant agencies, which are causing issues in continuity of care, duplicated efforts, and access to accurate data. These are noted to have impacted the city’s efforts to achieve positive health outcomes.

TCI Philippine Hub Chief of Party Glenn Benablo suggested possible solutions that the city might want to pursue. 

“Maybe we can learn from the best practices of other cities. We can explore implementation of electronic medical and health information systems and community-based teen centers,” he said.

Benablo shared the success stories from other TCI PH cities and offered concrete examples of high-impact interventions resulting in lower adolescent birth rates and increased use of modern contraceptives. At the end of the visit, everyone agreed that tackling adolescent pregnancy involved multi-sectoral collaboration and resolved to strengthen that in Pasig.

Attending a demo and presentation of electronic data, Dr. Lokko commended Manila City for embracing digitalization to address adolescent pregnancies and low uptake of FP services, adding that other TCI hub countries can take a leaf from its implementation.

“What you are doing here is giving us the opportunity to visualize family planning data in real-time. Without data, we can’t do our high-impact interventions effectively,” he said.

The local government showcased its Manila Data Analytics and Technology Online Services (ManDATOS) Konsulta Performance Dashboard at the well-attended health information exchange event, which saw the presence of officials from the Department of Health, USAID Philippines, USAID ReachHealth, PhilHealth, local government agencies, and Manila Mayor Sheila “Honey” Lacuna-Pangan herself. 

The dashboard showed health indicators and PhilHealth Konsulta claims submitted by the city’s 44 health centers in real-time. Dr. Lokko expressed his admiration for this digitization project, highlighting the pivotal role of political leadership, giving a nod to the mayor’s firm support for it.

“I strongly believe that public health outcomes become better with good program coordination, management, and leadership,” he concluded.

TCI and Zuellig Family Foundation are entering their fourth year of shared work around FP and ASRH in the Philippines in 2024, with the cities in various stages of implementation. The Philippine team is now preparing the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Dipolog for graduation from the program, as they have posted significant successes in reduction of teen pregnancies and prevalence of modern contraceptive use.