TCI officials paid a courtesy visit to Mandaue City Mayor Glenn Bercede on Wednesday to discuss developments and programs to be implemented related to adolescent and youth reproductive health.| 📸: Mandaue City PIO
MANDAUE CITY, Philippines – The Mandaue City Government has partnered with The Challenge Initiative International (TCI) to implement programs on adolescent and youth reproductive health, aiming to reduce teenage pregnancies in the city.
TCI officials visited Mandaue City on Wednesday, Nov. 13, to discuss program development and upcoming implementations.
Mandaue City officially joined TCI in September 2023. Since then, a City Leadership Team has been established, comprising Mayor Glenn Bercede, City Health Officer Dr. Debra Maria Catulong, representatives from DepEd-Mandaue, and youth and community leaders, among others.
Through TCI’s support, the team has enhanced the local implementation of family planning and adolescent and youth reproductive health initiatives.
TCI has shared its expertise with Mandaue by providing capacity building for local leaders and health workers, ensuring inclusive services in healthcare facilities, establishing systems, coaching, monitoring, and implementing various activities.
During the program design phase, the city identified key priorities to adopt TCI’s practices and interventions.
These priorities include community health volunteers, post-pregnancy family planning, mobile outreach services, community group engagement, adolescent-friendly health services, and health leadership and governance.
City Health Officer Dr. Debra Maria Catulong emphasized that one of the priorities is to lower the incidence of teenage pregnancies.
As of 2024, there are 109,352 women of reproductive age in the city, with 21,874 aged 15 to 19 years.
Dr. Catulong shared that the youngest recorded pregnancy in the city was 13 years old but did not specify the number of teenage pregnancies in Mandaue.
“Nagkabata ang nangabuntis karun, but as much as possible, we want to avoid second pregnancies. We also teach them many things to encourage them to return to school and engage in more productive activities,” said Dr. Catulong.
The city health officer mentioned that TCI officials will accompany their three teams deployed in the barangays.
They will observe the city’s innovations, including the Women’s Health Caravan of Services.
The services provided include family planning, mental health support, HIV testing, general consultations, and cancer prevention.