By Alfonso T. Ruda
DIPOLOG CITY - The 2008 National Demographic and
Health Statistics (NDHS) of the National Statistics Office (NSO) revealed that
19 percent of the births delivered by the 26 percent of the total young mothers
aging 15-24 years old have multiple medical risks due to a combination of the
mother’s age, birth interval and birth order.
In
a press release, Eva A. Goyena, of the S & T Media Service of the Food and
Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology
(FNRI-DOST) said that in a related survey conducted by FNRI-DOST among 1,650
pregnant Filipino women showed that 40 percent of the pregnant teen-agers below
15 years old and 36 percent among pregnant women 15-19 years old are
nutritionally-at-risk due to their gestational age.
According
to the survey, 36 percent of pregnant women aging below 20 years old
nutritionally-at-risk is almost twice higher compared to 23 percent noted among
those aging above 20 years old.
Goyena
said, the FNRI survey further disclosed that the low weight gain during
pregnancy among 43.4 of the teen-age mothers due to under-nutrition most likely
attributed to the mother’s short lactation and the babies’ low birth weight.
According
to the World Health Organization (WHO), stillbirths and death in the first week
of life are 50 percent higher among babies born to mothers younger than 20
years old than among babies born to mothers 20-29 years old.
The
WHO also noted that rates of premature birth, low birth weight and asphyxia or
difficulty of breathing among babies of adolescents increased the chance of
early death and future health problems.
In
2001, the Population Commission has also documented that poor nutrition
aggravated by multiple pregnancies and closely-spaced births make younger moms
more susceptible to infectious diseases as well as health complications that
may result to maternal or infant deaths and low birth weight babies. (PIA9)