By Amina Evangelista Swanepoel | Project Leader
The Problem
In matters of sexual health, girls and women are disadvantaged in the Philippines: sex is not discussed, and girls and women do not have control of their own bodies. Myths and misconceptions regarding sexual health are pervasive: teens think jumping up and down after sex can prevent pregnancy, women think contraceptive pills cause cancer, and that sexually transmitted infections can be cured by drinking bleach. Government health care is far from adequate, funding for contraception is especially limited, and stocks are often unavailable. Rates of teenage pregnancy, maternal mortality and positive cases of HIV are staggering and continue to increase. To make things more challenging for young people, the legal age of consent is 12 years old, but adolescents are unable to access contraceptives without parental approval until the age of 18.
Roots of Health has been operating in Palawan as the only reproductive health organization for nine years. Given the lack of local government support for our issue areas, in large part due to religious conservatism, ROH is providing the majority of the reproductive health services on the island. These are the realities that have fueled our work and programming. And this is why we need to do more.
Improving Healthcare Attitudes Towards Youth
One of the core issues contributing to high rates of teen pregnancy in the Philippines is the lack of access to healthcare centers providing free, high-quality services. Every community, or barangay in the Philippines has a health center that is mandated to provide services for free. But young people do not access these health centers. Reasons the youth cite include that community health workers and government nurses and midwives often judge and berate them for being sexually active, threaten to tell their parents what they are doing, and refuse to give them services.
In order to try to change this situation, we work in partnership with our government counterparts and conduct trainings for community health workers and government health staff in order to help them be more youth-friendly.
We provide them with basic information about Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive health and remind them of young people’s rights to access information and clinical services. We help them see that if they refuse to provide sexually active teens with contraception, the next time they see them, they will likely be pregnant. We drive home the fact that they don’t necessarily have to approve of what the young people are doing, but that as health providers, they are obligated to do no harm and provide them with services.
Thankfully, our trainings are helping! We’re seeing attitudes change, and we hope this will translate into improved services for young people.
Your Support
Thanks to your contribution to Roots of Health, we’re able to conduct these kinds of trainings for our government counterparts, as well as teach more students about puberty, reproductive health, contraception, STIs and HIV/AIDS than ever before.
We’re expanding our reach, so that more young people understand their bodies and how to protect themselves, and the adults in their world will be more understanding of their needs, and help keep them safe. You are part of this change--we wouldn’t be able to do it without you.
A heartfelt thank you from all of us at Roots of Health. We hope you’ll continue to follow our journey and support our work!
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