Adolescence in crisis: Philippines’ island of teen mums

In the Philippines, about 14% of the female teenage population are either pregnant for the first time or are already a mother. GET REAL goes to Bamboo Creek, which has the nation’s highest prevalence of adolescent pregnancy.

SINGAPORE: Rather than going to school like most girls her age, 14-year-old Arr Sheraine boils guava leaves everyday, a remedy that supposedly heals her one-year-old son of the lesions on his body.

Her son, Atong, has had open wounds all over his body – including a a festering wound on his head – since birth.

These are health complications common to babies born to teenage mothers.

Arr Sheraine lives on Bamboo Creek, an island in the Philippines with the nation’s highest prevalence of adolescent pregnancy. Arr Sheraine is one of the 25 per cent of female teens on the island who are pregnant or are already mothers.

The 14-year-old met her boyfriend, Arjune, through text messaging when she was 12. They had sex before she turned 13, and Arr Sheraine became pregnant after her 13th birthday. However, the couple soon learnt about the difficulties of teenage pregnancy.

“During the first trimester, I had a recurring fever and vomited a lot. It got so bad that at one point I was rushed to the hospital because of severe abdominal pain. My stomach was stiff and painful, but I endured it,” said Arr Sheraine.

Arr Sheraine’s pregnancy could have cost her her life.

There is a one in 250 chance that pregnant teenagers will die because a developing teenager’s body is not ready to carry a child. She survived her difficult pregnancy and excruciating labour, but this was not the end of problems. Aside from his lesions, Atong was also born malnourished, and suffers from respiratory problems. His parents have not taken him to see the doctor because access to healthcare is difficult.

A LACK OF AWARENESS

Arr Sheraine, who says she feels burdened by her son’s illnesses.

The island of Bamboo Creek houses one health centre for its pregnant women, but it is only open for one day a month, and does not always have a midwife available to prescribe vitamins or medicines to its patients.

According to experts speaking to GET REAL, teenage Filipinos are not fully aware about sexual health. The Reproductive Health Law enacted in 2014 requires that adolescents undergo “age- and development-appropriate reproductive health education”, with topics such as teen pregnancy, responsible teenage behaviour and parenthood. Before this law was enacted, schools avoided teaching about sex, and less than 10 per cent of teenagers discussed sex while growing up at home.

As a result, the 2013 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study found that more than 80 per cent of Filipino high school students did not use protection when they first had intercourse.

Miss Rina Jimenez-David, a Reproductive Health Advocate, believes that the problem lies with the school curriculum.

“The curriculum is taking so long to be firmed up and there are a lot of objections to certain provisions and to the mentions of sex at all. So young people are the ones being penalised. This is why we see the number rising,” she said. –Mabel Chan, Channel NewsAsia