“If we can experience it, we can teach it!” This was the guiding principle embraced by our Youth Team during a series of learning sessions on mental health, facilitated by our Columbia University graduate Fellow, Aimary Rubio. Aimary, a master’s student in clinical psychology, said that the purpose of these sessions was to help our Youth Team explore various facets of what true mental well-being means and equip them with
08
Feb 2023
Minors Should Be Able to Access Contraception
Puerto Princesa City, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 — Roots of Health (Ugat ng Kalusugan), a Palawan-based organization that provides educational and clinical services to women and young people, has called on government to allow adolescent access to family planning commodities and services. This, as the Senate held a committee hearing, Tuesday, on three bills that seek to prevent teen pregnancies in the country. Roots of Health Executive Director Amina Evangelista-Swanepoel, speaking
by Lhen Hasal Schools are still closed due to COVID-19 restrictions, and young people are still unable to be on their campuses to learn and interact with their teachers and classmates. Because of this, our teachers are also unable to provide in-person reproductive health classes by hopping in a van, taking a boat ride, or even climbing uphill. But this doesn’t mean that students don’t need this information anymore. COVID-19
The only midwife in town could’ve been in high school with their mom. The pharmacist goes to the same church. Someone could be eavesdropping at the hospital and hear them asking about an HIV test. In places like Palawan, Philippines, where almost everyone knows everyone, young people often fear getting a pregnancy test, an HIV test, or contraceptives. To them, accessing services could mean other people finding out that they
Almost 200,000 Filipino teenage girls get pregnant every year. Here’s why that’s a problem. by Alicia di Giovanni | Photo: Isabel Corthier When 16-year-old Tina’s* water broke, it was the last thing the ninth grader expected to happen in her high school campus, just a few miles away from the city center. She had thought that she was only seven months pregnant. Because she’d never had an ultrasound, she had
Does jumping up and down after sex prevent pregnancy? A shocking 83% of more than 1,000 young people recently taught reproductive health education in Puerto Princesa City said yes.
11
Sep 2015
Why Are Filipinos So Short
This week, Save the Children released a new report suggesting that Filipino ‘shortness’ isn’t just a natural genetic trait of Filipinos, but rather is due to generations of maternal and child malnutrition. Undernourished mothers give birth to undernourished children.
15
Aug 2015
Reaching Out Over Radio
How do you reach young people in geographically isolated areas? This was the problem Roots of Health faced before starting a radio show to give adolescents the information they need to make informed decisions.
13
Mar 2015
What It’s Like to Work with Committed Funders
We couldn't do the work that we do without the support of individuals and organizations around the world that share the same values that we do. When funders make the effort to visit Palawan and talk with our staff and the people we serve, it means a lot to all of us.
Go big or go home is an oft-repeated mantra. 2015 is the year that our high school programming is going big. After reaching all the public high schools within Puerto Princesa City last year, we have committed to reaching more young people in rural areas.
