P34 billion is lost each year to adolescent and teen pregnancies as compared to a very low figure that the government is spending for its population control program.

Young mother heavy with child pulls a toddler to mirror the birth control problem confronting the country. AFP

Aside from the high population growth rate, teenage pregnancy is among the creeping problems that state social policy agency National Population Commission (POPCOM) is focusing on as it costs government more than what it spends for the annual population control program annually.

POPCOM regional director Lydio Español revealed during his guesting in last Tuesday’s “Straight Talk with Daily Tribune” that P34 billion is lost each year to adolescent and teen pregnancies as compared to a very low figure that the government is spending for its population control program.

“For the Costed Implementation Plan for family planning up to 2020, the requirement is just P3 billion per year. And the consequence is P34 billion but that is just for adolescent and teen pregnancies,” Español said.

Citing a study conducted by the UP School of Economics, Español explained that the amount lost per year is from those who had teen pregnancies, but were not able to catch up with the necessary average amount they are supposed to earn.

“That is income that was supposedly foregone, for those not able to finish schooling, not able to get a job,” he pointed out.

Looking at the cost benefit analysis, the P34 billion lost every year compared to the requirement of P3 billion per year is almost ten times the amount lost by the government.

“It’s a very big difference,” Español said.

The problem on teen pregnancies, aside from its usually being unplanned, is the miseducation behind natural family planning methods.

Español cites a survey conducted by the University of the Philippines Population Institute on the subject of young adult fertility and sexuality among females 24 years old and below, 85 percent are not able to correctly determine the fertile period during a women’s reproductive cycle. This means that the “guesstimate” usually goes wrong and results in pregnancies.

At the same time, in the same survey, 78 percent are engaged in premarital sex, and 78 percent among them are also not using any form of protection.

The good news, however, is that teen pregnancies among 15- to 19-year-olds are going down due to easier access to artificial birth control methods, such as condoms in the collateral impact and context of the anti-HIV and AIDS program.

What the POPCOM is keeping in check is the growing incidence of pregnancies among 14-years-old and below, which has been on the rise as Español admitted.

“It’s a matter of becoming responsible for one’s sexuality. One has to choose wisely — between having small pleasures and their future, we have to choose the future,” Español said.

But to him, this is not a problem that could not be solved as he said the long-term impact of population control efforts was able to reduce the Philippines annual population growth rate from 2.3 percent 10 years ago down to 1.5 percent currently. The global target is pegged at 1.1 percent.

“We have still a lot to do. We really have to do more, to double our efforts,” Español averred.