by Rene V. Carbayas
ISABELA CITY, Basilan – In
celebration of World Population Day, the Isabela City Population Office led the
celebration in the city with the Teen Day event at Isabela City National High
School (ICNHS) in Cabunbata, recently.
The gathering of teenagers centered on reproductive
health where some fifty selected junior high school students took part of Teen
Day event last July 11 with the theme “Investing in Teenage Girls.”
Jeseilyn O. Puno, City Population Officer said
this year’s theme specifically focused on young girls’ rights to access quality
education, youth-friendly health care, and decent employment to ensure a
brighter future for them and the Philippines as a nation.
“The teen day event is a whole day forum
bringing together all teenage girls [and some boys] in order to provide basic
and accurate information and key messages on Adolescence Reproductive Health
and how to safeguard their rights, health and education and prevent young girls
from discrimination that further prevents them from exercising their
reproductive health rights. The forum also provides girls where to seek
guidance and services regarding issues on adolescents,” Puno said.
The Teen Day event was originally intended for
the out-of-school youth as planned by the Out-of-School Youth development
Alliance in a meeting. But due to certain circumstances and lack of funds, the
event was held for in-school youths instead.
Lectures on adolescence and youth reproductive
health was handled by City Population Office and the Philippine Information
Agency in Basilan, using the Usapang Barkadahan module as introduced by the Philippine
Population Commission and the MindanaoHealth, a five-year (2013-2018) United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) health service delivery
strengthening project implemented by Jhpiego—an affiliate of the Johns Hopkins
University.
ICNHS officials were grateful to the
organizers for choosing their school as recipients of the program.
