Rey Anthony H.
Chiu
BOHOL, June 9 (PIA)--Tagbilaran City Health Task Group for
the foriegn-funded Cities Development Initiative (CDI) identified early
teen pregnancy and increasing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) as causes
for concern that could make or unmake the city as a new economic growth
center.
At the second Health Working Group meeting recently at the Soledad
Suites, its members led by City Health Officer Dr. Apollo John Bernaldez,
doctors at the City Health Office, Department of Health, partner health
practitioners, non government organizations and academe sector representatives
validated the two as key development challenges the city needs to address.
City health officer Dr. Apollo Bernaldes said, consistent
rising trend in adolescent pregnancy in Manga District that apparently
caused enough alarm to raise the topic.
The problem may not be as pronounced elsewhere considering
the natural tendency of closed Boholano families to just clam it up and hide
unwanted pregnancies.
City Population Officer designate and Family Planning
Coordinator Leonita R. Relamida keeps track and monitors the figures
and she noted the rise in early pregnancies in Bohol in the last two
years.
With what she found out, Relamida pushed the button to get local
attention and hopefully present a level-headed program that would help the
youngsters into informed decision before committing to any life changing
plunge.
Relamida also hopes that parents, who exercise the
responsibility of making sure their kids are comfortably settled, would double
up on the task while the community would be back in its ideal role as
string support for identity crisis-laden kids.
At the meeting, task group members also agreed that Responsible
Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RP/RH) dissemination activities should be
given to key officials to generate policy support.
The participants also think that school based parents groups can
re-strengthen parents and kid's ties and in the process maximize the
involvement of Parents Teachers Associations (PTAs) in keeping grips with
school teens.
Apart from early pregnancies, authorities at the City Health
Office also see a rise in sexually transmitted infections in Tagbilaran
City.
Health authorities want to double up on information education
sorties with documentaries and film showings instead of the usual
lectures and fora for teeners.
Health sector representatives also see the crucial role of peers
in popularizing health concepts one that is already among the task group's
next steps.
For the STI, city health workers suggest the reorganization of Bar
Owner's Association to help encourage their affiliated commercial sex workers
to submit for regular hygiene check-up while running a parallel STI HIV-AIDS
orientation, even as Bohol ranks second in the region's HIV affectation.
(mbcn/rahc/PIA7-Bohol)
- See
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