The Liguorian Time”s

November 25, 2022 News of Today PAGE 1

At 12 years old, Joan Garcia
liked leaping into the sea and
racing the boys to the nearest
“Too young to be a TEENAGE PREGNANCY
pylon. She liked playing tag.
When she started having sex at Mother” ON THE RISE AGAIN
DURING THE
13, she thought it was just
another game. Joan was PANDEMIC
skipping across the pavement,
playing a game with friends, The World Health Organization reports that
about 16 million girls, aged 15 – 19 and
when an older neighbor noticed
some 1 million girls under 15 years of age
her rounding belly. Her give birth every year – 95% of which
daughter, Angela, is now a year occurs in low and middle income countries.
old. Joan crouched on the floor, Approximately 90% of births to girls aged
15-19 in developing countries occur within
folding up her lanky teenage early marriage where there is often an
limbs and fed Angela fingers- imbalance of power, no access to
full of steamed rice, crimped contraception and pressure on girls to prove
their fertility. The Philippines is classified
strands of instant noodles and
by the World Bank as having a lower-
fermented anchovies from the middle income economy. It has been
family's small communal bowl. reported that there’s an alarming rise of
teenage pregnancy in the Philippines. It was
Joan, now 16 years old, said even declared as “national priority” under
that since she became a mother, the administration of the 16th President,
Rodrigo Duterte. He made the decision, as
she's embarrassed to play kids' he acknowledged that childbearing in
games, then paused for a adolescents carries “increased” risk of
moment. "Sometimes I still play health problems for both mother and child.
This may result in coercion and unequal
tag in the water with my
power relations between girls and older
brothers," she admitted. Over a men. To address teenage pregnancies, all
10-year period, 1.2 million government agencies and instruments are
Filipina girls between the ages directed to identify and implement
practicable interventions such as
of 10 and 19 have had a child. comprehensive sexuality education,
That's a rate of 24 babies per education and employment opportunities
hour. for young people.
SENATOR JUAN FAVIER’S REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8423 NOW APPROVED
Abortion is recognized as illegal and
Traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM) remains as one of the reliable sources of punishable by law. Republic Act Number
healthcare among rural areas and the poor. In 1992, the Traditional Medicine program was 10354, also known as Responsible
launched by the DOH to promote traditional medicine in the country. This was followed by the Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of
passage of Republic Act 8423, or the Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act (TAMA) of 1997. 2012 is a historic law enacted in 2012. The
It recognizes the importance of traditional and alternative medicine in providing health care to the bill calls for a "multi-dimensional
people. This is valuable to people who do not have access to hospice care and immediate nursing approach" that integrates a component of
aid, specifically to locals in rural regions. It was enacted on December 9, 1997. The case studies family planning and responsible parenthood
in this article shed light on the problems, challenges, and opportunities offered by herbal into all government anti-poverty programs.
Age-appropriate reproductive health and
therapies, natural products, and alternative healing methods, and the policy context in which they
sexuality education is required from grade
exist. Traditional and alternative medicine, as defined by Republic Act No. 8423 ("Traditional and
five to fourth year high school using life-
Alternative Medicine Act (TAMA)"), is "any knowledge, skill and practice, other than those in the
skills and other approaches. It is a law that
biomedicine, which is used in the prevention, diagnosis and elimination of physical or mental
establishes a national strategy for ethical
disorder." The law acknowledges the value of traditional and alternative medicine in providing
parenting and reproductive health. The law,
healthcare to the public. As listed in the Philippine Standard Occupational Classification (PSOC), which is the result of ardent stakeholder
associate professional of traditional and complementary medicines include drugless treatment advocacy and government commitment,
healer, bonesetter, faith healer, healer of indigenous people (i.e. Mansi-bok, Mansip-ok), herbalist, serves as a focal point for the coordination
scraping and cupping therapist, village healer, witch doctor, and acupressure therapist. On the of multi-sectoral initiatives aimed at
other hand, traditional and complementary medicine professionals include acupuncturist, enhancing the nation's health results. The
ayurvedic practitioner, Chinese herbal medicine practitioner, homeopath, hydrotherapist, law declares that The Conutry recognizes
naturopath and unani. It’s  aim to improve the quality and delivery of health care services to the and guarantees the human rights of all
Filipino people through the development of traditional and alternative health care and its persons.
integration into the national health care delivery system .
 The Liguorian Times
“Why the Philippines Has
So Many Teen Moms?”
Teenage pregnancy affects about 6% of Filipino girls. That
sounds like a small number but is the second highest rate in
Southeast Asia based on Save the Children’s Global
Childhood Report from 2019. An estimated 538 babies are
born to Filipino teenage mothers every single day, according
to the Philippine Statistical Authority from 2017. Let’s do the
math – 538 x 365 = 196,370 babies born each year to teenage
mothers in the Philippines! Nearly 200,000 teenagers get
pregnant every year! And to make matters worse, there are
roughly 40 births each year by girls who have not yet reached
the age of 13. You read that correctly – precious young girls
who have not even entered their teens, carrying a baby for
nine months in their child-like womb.
Many adolescents in the Philippines are not only getting
pregnant under the age of 20 but are also having repeated
pregnancies. Several local studies have determined the
prevalence and the correlates of repeated pregnancies among
Filipino adolescents, but the qualitative contexts in which
these pregnancies are occurring are unclear yet are important
for program development. This paper discusses some
qualitative data drawn from experiences of youth who have
had repeated pregnancies as a result of a qualitative study that
employed the phenomenological and the narrative
methodological approach. The study made use of data
collected through individual in-depth interviews with
adolescents from the province of Pampanga, Philippines who
have experienced more than one pregnancy from ages 15 to
19. Overall themes on the experiences of young mothers
include positivity amid within the negativity and old
connections, new unions. Found to be both a biological and
social phenomenon, repeated adolescent pregnancy heightens
both personal and social experiences of the young mother
while it involves gender, forming and rebuilding of families as
well as local context, and as such validates the need for further
PAGE
”A Mother too soon”
The most surprising thing about 15-year-old Kimberly Alvarado is not that
she gave birth at a very young age. After all, teenage pregnancy is an
alarming problem in the Philippines where the government declared it a
national social emergency with numbers reaching as high as 574 pregnancies
a day in 2017. What's striking about Kimberly, herself looking no older than
11, is the depth of her understanding of mother and child nutrition,
something that was unfamiliar to most people in her barangay (village) a
year ago. Kimberly lives in Baranggay. Catioan, Municipality of Capalonga,
in the Province of Camarines Norte. The coastal municipality is home to
30,000 people whose primary livelihood is in agriculture. Approximately
330 km from Manila, it is a third-class municipality which boasts of white
sand beaches with 9 of its 22 barangays located along the Pacific coast.
Economic progress in Capalonga has been slow and the pressing challenge
of malnutrition continues to hound residents who experience high levels of
stunting, wasting, underweight, and overweight or obesity, and a host of
micronutrient deficiencies affecting mothers and children. When we visited
Kimberly at her home, she didn't quite understand why we came. "What's
this for?" she asks. We tell her that her story will inspire people when they
learn how such a young girl is already a responsible and smart mother.
A typical teenager, she simply lets out a shy, yet proud smile as she cradles
her baby.Kimberly tells us that as soon as she found out she was pregnant,
she told her 19-year-old boyfriend and shortly after, her parents. "I was very
happy to learn I was going to have a baby," she says. What followed were
regular visits to the barangay hall for prenatal check-ups, completing her
course of iron folic acid, and strictly following a proper diet until she gave
birth to a healthy baby girl. Azenith Lamedra, the barangay health worker
who's been helping Kimberly since she was pregnant, attested that she was
the best participant in the program—following advice on exclusive
breastfeeding and eating the right food to stay healthy, something that
mothers much older than her have found difficult to do. Kimberly's plan for
her young family is simple. She says she and her husband just want to give
their child the best chance in life by raising her well-nourished and protected
from illnesses and preparing her for school in the future. She's also
determined to complete her studies through the Alternative Learning System
of the Department of Education. And so far, she's been doing a great job.
Baby Princess is a very healthy infant whose vaccinations are up-to-date.
Her weight is just right for her age and she rarely gets sick.
The Liguorian Times
“The Unavailability of Contraceptives”
The main reasons for the high rate of teenage pregnancies are
inadequate sex education (some girls do not know that having
sex can result in pregnancy or fully consider the responsibility of
having children) and a lack of access to birth control.
Contraceptive access has long been a complicated, divisive issue
in the Philippines. Despite a constitutional separation of church
and state, Catholic morals dominate Philippine law. For more
than a decade, reproductive health activists and legislators
fought a bitter battle with the Catholic Church and conservative
politicians to pass a law that would allow the government to
distribute contraceptives to those who could not afford them and
require comprehensive sex education in public schools.
The Philippine Catholic church has long opposed birth control in
the country where about 80% of people are Catholics. In the
past, the Catholic Bishops Council of the Philippines preached
— in public statements, on the pulpit and through allied
lawmakers — against a bill to widen access to birth control on
moral grounds, calling it "anti-life" and "a major attack on
authentic human values and on Filipino cultural values." The
Philippines passed a reproductive health bill into law in 2012.
But years of Supreme Court challenges and delays in
implementation continue to this day. Among the concessions to
conservatives was a provision requiring parental consent for
minors to buy contraceptives or receive them for free. "It was
one step back [for] adolescent health," said Dr. Juan Perez III,
executive director for the Philippine Commission on Population
and Development.
The law improved access to birth control for women, but it
became harder for teenagers to get birth control. To address the
resulting uptick in adolescent pregnancies, lawmakers have
introduced bills improving access to contraception, supporting
sex education and making it illegal to expel girls from school
should they become pregnant. None have become law so far.
Perez said a teenage pregnancy has a significant impact on
perpetuating poverty. "They cannot recover from being a child
mother," he said. That was the finding of a 2016 study by the
United Nations Population Fund. By age 20, a teenage girl in the
Philippines who gets pregnant and drops out of school earns 87
percent of the average 20-year-old woman's pay. Perez said the
lower income continues further into adulthood.
“If we as a nation are to break the cycle of poverty, crime
and the growing underclass of young people ill equipped to
be productive citizens, we need to not only implement
effective programs to prevent teen pregnancy, but we
must also help those who have already given birth so that
they become effective, nurturing, bonding parents.”
PAGE 3
“Protecting yourself
HIV and AIDS”
In 2018, the Philippines was one of the
countries in the world with the highest
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
incidence-prevalence ratio. Between 2010
and 2018, the Philippines had a 203%
increase in new HIV infections. In August
2019, an average of 36 Filipinos per day
was diagnosed with HIV. In 2018, the
country’s proportion of young individuals
among total estimated new HIV infections
was 69%, the highest in Asia and the
Pacific region. From January to August
2019, HIV was commonly transmitted
through sexual contact, mainly among men
who have sex with men (MSM) with 5248
reported cases. Preventive programs and
services are significant to be available and
accessible for communities and
populations-at-risk to alleviate the
burgeoning impact of HIV.
Some of the strategies to deliver HIV
preventive measures are information,
education and communication, peer-based
approach, and distribution of condoms and
other preventive materials. Abstinence,
limiting sexual partners, and use of
condoms are some of the specific measures
to lessen HIV risk. The use of condom
offers a practical and effective means to
prevent HIV transmission. Based on a
systematic review, consistent use of
condoms reduces HIV transmission by
The Liguorian Times
“The Traditional and Alternative Medicine
Act”
The Traditional and alternative
medicine act. In the year 1992 the
government officially recognized this
vital role of traditional medicine in
the country and begin the Traditional
Medicine Program under the
leadership and influence of former
Health Sec. Juan Favier In the year
1997 The Congress enacted RA No.
8423 or maybe known as the
Traditional and Alternative Medicine
Act (TAMA).
This law opened up the possibility to
see the importance of traditional and
alternative medicine in providing
health care to the people. Institute of
Traditional and Alternative Health
PAGE 4
Care The Philippine Institute of country. Indigenous communities,
Traditional and Alternative Health provinces, and regions have their
Care or (PITAHC) is a government- own unique traditional healing
owned and controlled corporation practices. Although techniques vary
(GOCC) and also attached with the across localities, one commonality is
Department of Health (DOH) was the use of herbs and plants which are
primarily envisioned to help make the believed to have medicinal effects.
quality and delivery of health care
Medicinal plants from the Philippines
services better to the Filipino people
have since made significant inroads
through the development of
in the global market because of the
traditional and alternative health care
increasing demand for organic and
(TAHC) and its integration into the
natural health products especially in
national health care delivery system.
developed countries.
Traditional medicine has long been
practiced in the Philippines even
before the introduction of Western
and conventional medicine in the
 The Liguorian Times PAGE 5

Benefits of Mainstreaming Herbal Medicine in the

Philippine Healthcare System- There are several problems that
continue to plague the Philippine health care system. The cost of branded
drugs in the Philippines is 22 times more than international reference prices
while generic drugs are 4 times more. Despite price reductions due to
legislations such as the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2008, as well as the
Generics Act of 1988, those in the lower-income brackets still cannot afford
maintenance medicines for hypertension and diabetes as well as antibiotics.
Access to medicines and care from physicians and other healthcare
professionals is especially challenging for geographically isolated and
disadvantaged areas wherein the people are physically or economically
inaccessible. Filipino traditional medicine, of which herbal medicine plays a
large role has been around for centuries and is well accepted in the rural areas.
Validating the use of these traditional medicinal plants through research is
essential in order to have an evidence-based practice of herbal medicine. The
main areas of research can be defined as herbal medicine quality and
standardization, preclinical pharmacological assessments and action
mechanisms, and clinical efficacy and safety assessments. These types of
researches aimed at developing safe and efficacious, as well as low-cost
Philippine herbal medicines, may well be a long-term solution to the obstacles
to a healthy population cited above. Our Philippine medicinal plants are a
valuable but often underappreciated resource with innumerable applications
for non-communicable and communicable disease indications

“What is Folk“The
Medicine?”
Future of
Traditional/Alternative
It refers to traditional healing practices anchored
Medicine”
on cultural beliefs of body physiology and health
preservation. Reflective of indigenous
Ensuring the safety, heritage,
efficacy, it
and
fosters a better understanding of health
quality of traditional drugsandand
disease, healthcarepractices
systems,is crucial
and in widespread
biocultural
acceptance of traditional and
adaptation. In the Philippines, Quiapo is a well-
alternative medicine as a viable
known site for folkmethodmedicine services,
to treat diseases.cultural
However,
diversity, religiousthe practices, and economic
use, distribution, and practice of
activities. traditional medicine still lack
stringent and cautious regulation
This study utilized awhen
phenomenological approach
compared to pharmacological
to comprehend the drugs and other ofconventional
lived experiences health-
seeking individuals treatments.
and the meaning behind their
acquisition of folk Further,
medicine products.
the absence Using
of a centralized
“The significance of Traditional Medicine
convenience sampling, database of seven participants
traditional medicinal
during the COVID 19 PANDEMIC” products and inpractices
acquiring folk medicine products Quiapowhichon theare
day of data availablewere
collection to theapproached
public is concerning.
and
Traditional medicine has especially gained new
Such database is important in
interviewed
significance amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. While theon separate instances. The collected
documenting indigenous healing
end of the pandemic appears to be in data
sightsubsequently
with the underwent
practices forthematic
future analysis.
reference and
development of vaccines, the procurement, storage, and research studies, and for providing
distribution of vaccines across and withinFolk medicine
countries will is theperceived
public withtoaccurate
be effective
and up-to-
still take considerable time and resources. alleviating health concerns. The onacquisition
date information of
safe and effective
such products is attributed
products. to satisfaction from
Hence, current testing on the efficacy of medicinal plants
prior experience, distrust in the current healthcare
as an alternative treatment for COVID-19 symptoms The goal is that in the near future,
remains significant and pressing. In the system, family tradition,
Philippines, every person andwill intention
be armed to with
supplement
research studies are being conducted on the use of tawa-existing medical treatment.
adequate information to This study
intelligently
tawa (Euphorbia hirta) and lagundi (Vitex provides
negundo) ashealth chooseprofessionals a
between conventional betterand
treatment for COVID-19 patients with mild understanding alternative,who
to moderate of patients albeitpatronize
safe, treatment
folk
symptoms or those without co-morbidities. Further,
medicine, methods.
subsequently aiding This
them in is providing
not only
studies on the effectiveness of virgin coconut oil (VCO) empowering on an individual level,
a holistic approach to treatment.
but also breathes life into the
as a potential antiviral agent against COVID-19 are
constitutional policy to protect and
currently underway.
promote the right to health.
The Liguorian Times PAGE 6

2.
CROSSWOR
1. D PUZZLE 7.

Credits to Group 3:
5.
ANICETO, Aaron Jan
6.
CORPUZ, Kaile Chemf S.
PENOLIAR, Aaron Job
URBANO,Jesson Andreus

ACROSS
1. A person between the ages of
13-19 years old.
3. Knowledge or perception of a
situation at hand.
4. Is any measure taken to
guard a thing against a damage
caused by outside force.
6. Profoundly immoral or wicked.
DOWN
DUMAGUING, Faith Del
Campo
2. The period when a woman
carries a developing fetus. PIMENTEL, Azea Xyrhyn
5. A trait that distinguishes an
organism base on their
reproductive function.
7. Awareness or familiarity
gained by experience of a
fact or situation.

“True prevention is not waiting

for bad things to happen, it's
preventing things from
happening in the first place.”