THE DEPARTMENT of Education, Department of Health, and Commission on Population and Development launched the Comprehensive Sexuality Education and Adolescent Reproductive Health Convergence programs to address concerns on adolescent pregnancies and other reproductive health issues among young people.

The CSE focuses on the integration of scientific, age-appropriate, and culturally and gender-responsive information on the cognitive, emotional, physical, and social aspects of sexuality in the K-12 curriculum.

The ARH program, meanwhile, will establish facilities of information for responsible parenthood and reproductive health concerns, including capacity building and health promotion activities for learners and DepEd personnel. It will also provide counseling and proper referral for learners’ reproductive health concerns.

The Education department is hopeful that with these twin programs, the health status of adolescents will be improved by linking classroom instruction to critical adolescent reproductive health interventions accessible from various public social and health facilities within the community.

“Through the CSE-ARH Convergence, the Department affirms its commitment in ensuring that the reproductive health and other medical needs of its learners are comprehensively attended to,” Education Secretary Leonor Briones said.

Juan Antonio A. Perez III, executive director of the Commission on Population and Development, described the CSE-ARH convergence as a concrete response to the recently issued Executive Order No. 141, which adopted as a national priority the implementation of measures addressing the root causes of teenage pregnancies.

“With the convergence of POPCOM, DepEd, and DOH under CSE-ARH, we believe our synergies, guided by the tenets of EO 141, will soon curb the numbers of unplanned pregnancies among adolescents,” Perez said.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire emphasized the importance of providing sexual and reproductive information to teenagers.

“Minimithi ng Kagawaran ng Kalusugan na mabigyan ng katapusan ang teenage pregnancy sa ating bansa at tayong lahat ay magsasama sa pagpapababa ng HIV cases dito sa Pilipinas,” Vergeire said.