A Communication Plan to inform

Teenagers about the rising Teenage

Pregnancy

By

Djalene Toledo
 INTRODUCTION

As the pandemic hits every country and every region of the philippines, people are

required to take extra measures and to make sure to stay at home in order to decrease the risks of

being infected by Covid-19. However, as Covid-19 spreads, another problem rises; Teenage

Pregnancy. As some people may not be aware, some families openly shares their home to their

children’s partner whether day or night. This becomes a medium as to why teenage pregnancy

increased since the pandemic started. We can also realize that the society that we are living in is

slowly changing specially for the teenagers. Some of them already has a partner

(boyfriend/girlfriend) at a very young age, which can be a risk for teenage pregnancy if not

guided by their parents.

Abad (2021) states that during a November 2020 Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey

they found that Filipinos think teenage pregnancy is the “most important problem of women

today” in the Philippines. According to the new data, 59% of Filipinos believed that early

adolescent pregnancy was the most important problem – a landslide number compared to the

next most important problems: physical violence at 11% and unexpected pregnancy at 11%.

Sexual and emotional violence each ranked 7% on the list. Meanwhile, 4% thought that the most

important issue for women was that they cannot access family planning information and services.

CNN Philippines (2021) explains that according to the Commission on Population and

Development, the Philippines saw a 7% rise in births among girls aged 15 and under in 2019,

compared to the number for adolescent pregnancies in 2018.

Carlos (2021) explains that President Rodrigo Duterte has declared the prevention of

teenage pregnancies as a “national priority.” Under Executive Order (EO) 141 issued on June 25,
Duterte stressed the need to implement measures that will address the root causes of the rising

number of adolescent pregnancies.

“The State shall mobilize existing coordinative and legal mechanisms related to the

prevention of adolescent pregnancies, and to strengthen the adolescent’s capacity

to make autonomous and informed decisions about their reproductive and sexual

health by ensuring access to comprehensive sexuality education and reproductive

health and rights services,”

SKL o Serbisyong Kabataan Laban is an orginazation or community in our barangay

that aims to give services whose target are the teenagers in the community. It encourages, gives
knowledge and ideas to teenagers in order to have a better lifestyle.

COMMUNICATION PLAN LOCATION

The communication plan location is located at Barangay San Isidro, Antipolo City; the 9 th
barangay out of 16 barangays in Antipolo City . It is located between Brgy. San Luis, Dela Paz,
and San Jose.

TARGET AUDIENCE
 The main target audience of this communication plan are teenagers from ages 18-13
years old since they are the persons affected by Teenage Pregnancy. The next target are their
parents because they are the guardians and the persons responsible to give guidance to their
children.

WHAT CAUSES TEENAGE PREGNANCY?

Teenage pregnancy is a phenomenon that commonly happens as of now. However, there
are several causes as to why the number of teenage pregnancy continues to rise. The following
are the several causes;
 Lack of information about sexual and reproductive health and rights
The lack of information can be a big cause of teenage pregnancy. Many teenagers
are sexually active but they doesn’t know how it actually works. The lack of
information for them makes the teenage pregnancy increase, where in there are
safe options to have a sexual intercourse without getting pregnant but they don’t
know it because of the lack of information.

 Inadequate access to services tailored to young people

Teenagers doesn’t have the access to things that can help them to prevent teenage
pregnancy. Although they are still young, we cannot deny the fact that many
teenagers are sexually active today. So to help them have a health sexual
intercourse or rather to help stop teenage pregnancy, condoms or pills should be
open for teenagers to use.

 Sexual Violence
It is sad to say that sexual violence is somehow common to women. Specially
some predators that targets teenagers. Because of sexual violence, some teenagers
become pregnant even they don’t like it.

 Lack of parental guidance

Some parents are talking to their children at a young age, explaining to them some
contexts ideas in a very witty and easy way for them to understand. As parents,
you are responsible into giving guidance to your children specially at a young age.
As a parent, knowing the age of society we have right now, you should give
proper guidance to your children in order to limit the teenage pregnancy that is
increasing.

NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY

There are a couple of negative impacts on a teenagers life when they are affected by
teenage pregnancy as shown below;
 Interrupted Education
Some of the teenagers experience an unpredicted pregnancy. Because of this, they
tend to stop coming from school and decides to drop out. After being pregnant some
of them decides not to continue their eductaion and to dedicate their time into caring
for their child or finding a job in order to sustain the finances. Teenage mothers have
a high percentage of dropping out of school because of their low ambitions and
dedication to their children. It is no wonder that only 38% of female teens who give
birth before the age of 18 complete their high school education by the age of 22.
This means that a very high percentage of teenage mothers will not even go on to
graduate from high school, let alone get a college education. This lack of education
most times leads to low paying jobs or, even worse, unemployment. These young
women often end up living on welfare and do not have adequate resources for their
children. Overall, these young girls are forced to delay and postpone any plans for
their future to raise a child.

 Health Risks
There are a lot of things that happen in our body during our teen years because it
is the phase where in we are undergoing puberty. However, teenagers who are
pregnant at a young age might be having health risks. One thing is that the body
they have are still of a child that cannot handle pregnancy well. The issue of
adolescent fertility is essential for both health and social reasons because children
born to very young mothers are at increased risk of sickness and death. While it is
possible for a pregnant teenager in the Philippines to experience a healthy
pregnancy and also become an excellent parent, many pregnant and parenting
teenagers struggle with health risks, multiple stressors, and other complex issues.
If pregnancy is unplanned, the mother may not receive the prenatal care she and
her baby needs, or she may not even be healthy enough to carry a child. In the
Philippines, children born to teenage mothers are more likely to die compared to
children of older mothers, and this is because Filipino teen mothers aged 15-19
average 17 months between previous pregnancies compared to the recommended
35 months for mothers of all ages. Many of these teenage mothers are not healthy
enough; thus, they have a higher risk for obstructed labor, thereby contributing to
the number of unsafe abortions in the Philippines, which most times lead to the
death of many young females and their unborn child.

COMMUNICATION PLAN OUTLINE

1. Identify your stakeholders (To Whom)
 Teenagers
Because they are the ones affected by teenage pregnancy
 Parents
Because they are the ones that are responsible to guide their children because
 they are still young

2. Identify stakeholder expectations (Why)

 To lessen the increasing population of Teenage Pregnancy
 To inform them the causes of Teenage Pregnancy
 To inform them about the negative impact of Teenage Pregnancy
 To help them be informed about family planning
 To help parents give proper guidance to their children
 To introduce the use of contraceptives and condoms to lessen teenage pregnancy

3. Identify communication necessary to satisfy stakeholder expectations and keep them informed
(What)
 Fb Page – Posts on facebook pages
 Posters – Posts posters or banners on barangay halls or most public places where many
people are coming
 Facebook Live – Conducting Facebook lives in order for them to be informed even at
home
 Infograph/Infochart – Creative informations that will help them be more knowledgeable
 Meeting – A public meeting with social distancing

4. Identify timeframe and/or frequency of communication messages (When)

 Oct. 16 and 26 (3:00pm-4:30pm)
 Nov. 5,15, and 25 (3:00pm-5:00pm)

5. Identify how the message will be communicated (the stakeholder’s preferred method) (How)
 By making educational videos and posters about teenage pregnancy and posting it on the
Facebook Page
 By posting banners and posters on barangay halls

6. Identify who will communication each message (Who)

 SKL Member (Djalene Toledo)
 Barangay Health Worker
 SKL Volunteer
 SK Member
 REFERENCES
Abad, M. (2021). Teen pregnancy is 'most important problem of women today' in PH-survey.
Review. https://www.rappler.com/nation/teen-pregnancy-most-important-problem-women-
today-philippines-sws-survey-november-2020
Teenage pregnancies in PH up by 7%. (2021, February 8). CNN PHILIPPINES
Review. https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/2/8/Teenage-pregnancy-cases-up-in-
Philippines.html
Teenage Pregnancy In The Philippines and Its Effect On Education. (2020, April 7). charity: ed
Philippines
Review. https://nextstepph.com/teenage-pregnancy-in-the-philippines-and-its-effect-on-
education/
Carlos, R. (2021). Addressing teenage pregnancies declared as ‘national priority’. Philippine
News Agency.
Review. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1145373
Teenage Pregnancy. Plan International.
Review. https://plan-international.org/sexual-health/teenage-pregnancy?
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Almenral, A. (2020). PHOTOS: Why The Philippines Has So Many Teen Moms. Goats and
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Review. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/08/21/787921856/photos-the-hidden-
lives-of-teen-moms