THE HOUSE Committee on Youth and Sports Development created a subcommittee to further study and finetune measures that seek to address the rising cases of teenage pregnancy.

There are 10 bills and four resolutions filed that were deliberated upon during a virtual hearing presided by Navotas City Rep. John Reynald Tiangco.

Committee Vice Chairman and Manila Rep. Manuel Luis Lopez proposed the creation of the subcommittee to tackle all the bills and resolutions that among others seek to provide a national policy in preventing teenage pregnancies, institutionalize social protection for teenage parents, evaluate public and private programs to reduce the rate of teenage pregnancy and investigate the alarming rise of child and teenage pregnancies.

Meanwhile, House Resolution 612 urges the Department of Education, Department of Health and the National Youth Commission to address the rising cases of teenage pregnancies, and human immunodeficiency virus infection among the youth by institutionalizing a comprehensive age-appropriate sexuality education and calling for an immediate inter-agency summit on sexual health awareness and protection education.

Lopez said there are at least 10 million unintended pregnancies among teenage girls aged 15 to 19 in developing countries.

He said that the World Health Organization observed that girls who want to avoid pregnancies may not be able to do so due to knowledge gaps and lack of access to contraceptive measures.