Lacson alarmed over high teenage pregnancy rate

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson expressed alarm over the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy in Negros Occidental.

Based on the data of the Provincial Health Office (PHO), of the 35,628 pregnancies in 2023, a total of 5,271 were teenagers.

In 2022, 6,026 teenagers got pregnant out of the 39,411 pregnancies.

“That’s a serious concern and we really have to address that,” Lacson said.

Lacson said that they will be sitting down with the local chief executives in the province to plan a strategy on how to drastically reduce it. “Not just minimally, but drastically reduced the occurrence of teenage pregnancy,” he added.

“We hope to really improve. Let’s treat it as a provincewide concern,” the governor said.

He said that the Teresita Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City has been recently designated as a family planning training center, adding that it will play a major role in curbing the situation of teenage pregnancy in the province.