APA: - National Research Council of the Philippines (DOST-NRCP)

Explanatory-

In the context of COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, where there are 7.3 million Filipinos who lost
their jobs and where schools had been closed since March 2020, there are concerns such as young girls
being vulnerable to early pregnancy since they are out of their usual protective physical setting of the
school environment.

In 2019 or before the pandemic, some 2,411 girls aged 10 to 14 gave birth. The surge of pregnant
teenagers in the country has been long observed in the past 11 years.

According to a two-month study of the DOST-NRCP led by Dr. Gloria Luz Nelson, NRCP member of
Division VIII (Social Sciences), a sociologist by training with concentration on Population Studies, the
pandemic is not the cause of teenage pregnancy, but several mediating factors such as, school closures,
dysfunctional family, and lack of access to sexual and reproductive health education.

The two-month study retells the stories of 18 teenagers and extracts from their stories the meanings
they attached to their experiences as being young, pregnant, and mother during the pandemic. The
stories are the data gathered through screen-mediated in-depth interviews (Facebook, Messenger). The
respondents are from the nine provinces or seven regions in the Philippines.