Teens, gov’t agencies push for teen-friendly health services

NORTH COTABATO — Secondary school
pupils joined school heads, guidance advocates, health service providers, and
members of civil society organizations in a seminar on August 30-31, 2018 to work
with their respective rural health units (RHUs) in Arakan and Magpet towns to improve
their programs for the youth, particularly on adolescent health services.

During the seminar, titled
Partnership-Defined Quality for Youth Workshop, both child and adult participants
identified weaknesses in the current local health programs and recommended ways
of improvement, ranging from minor repairs of health centers to provision of
safe spaces for teenagers who seek advice from health workers.

Save the Children, a
child-oriented non-government organization (NGO), organized the event together
with the Department of Education (DepEd) Region 12 and the local government
units of Arakan and Magpet municipalities in order to ensure that children actively
participate in efforts to improve government health programs for the youth.

I am happy that I am able to
participate in this seminar because we are able to understand what programs are
available for us and how they can be made better, Reshy, a 13-year-old student, said. The things we need the most
from our health center are first aid supplies, medicines, and available medical
practitioners for giving advice, she added.In a study presented by Save the
Children during the event, it was shown that in 2015, 19.4 percent of pregnancies in
Arakan were teenage pregnancies, while it was 52.3 percent in Magpet. This has
prompted the organization to pursue upgrades in government health services for
adolescents in both areas.

It is important that we allow our youth to meaningfully
participate in decision making activities especially for matters that concern
them, such as defining quality health services or the provision of
adolescent-friendly government health services. We hope that the LGUs will
seriously consider the voices of the adolescents in order to improve the local
health service for youth, Annie Marie Mejicano ofSave the Children.

The workshop concluded with the
formation of a Quality Improvement Team (QIT) which will ensure proper implementation of the agreed plans for the
enhancement of health services for the youth in their respective
municipalities.Photos below show the participants work on their paper during workshop and an inspirational message from Save the Children official. Image may contain 3 people people smiling people standing sand//scontent.fcgy1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/41165872_2316139855079085_492641927196311552_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0andampoh=53498bf537c791ec1765aa63c98e2747andampoe=5C386670 Image may contain 1 person sitting and indoor sand//scontent.fcgy1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/41000667_2316139071745830_6082374999165894656_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0andampoh=8133881276c646f2b07047f531b68b22:ampoe=5C38F92F Image may contain 4 people people smiling people sitting and table sand//scontent.fcgy1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/41145013_2316139708412433_9002751751681474560_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0andampoh=78dab6f7af69496a375eb5a26c8667ffandampoe=5C31173C