SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian urged the government to help sustain the continuous drop in teenage pregnancies in the country.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority’s 2022 National Demographic and Health Survey, 5.4 percent or 5,531 of women aged 15 to 19 in the country have been pregnant. In 2017, the PSA found that teenage pregnancy in the same age group was at 8.6 percent.

In 2022, it recorded a decreasing trend in teenage pregnancy in 15 regions.

However, increases in teenage pregnancies were recorded in the Cordillera Administrative Region and Western Visayas.

The PSA also noted that the percentage of teenage pregnancy decreases as educational attainment increases.

Gatchalian said keeping girls in school remains an important strategy in curbing teenage pregnancies. He also cited the need to ensure the effectiveness of Comprehensive Sexuality Education being taught under Department of Education schools.

“Mahalaga ang papel ng mga paaralan upang maturuan ang mga batang kababaihan laban sa mga panganib ng maagang pagbubuntis. Kailangang tiyakin nating may akma at wastong edukasyon ang mga batang kababaihan upang mapangalagaan nila ang kanilang kalusugan at magandang kinabukasan,” he said.

Last year, Gatchalian filed Senate Resolution 13 seeking a Senate inquiry on adolescent pregnancies and the rising number of human immunodeficiency virus infections in the country.