Puerto Princesa City, PHILIPPINES — Roots of Health, a nonprofit organization working to improve the health of women and girls and their communities, has been named the 2011 recipient of the Asia 21 Young Leaders Public Service Award.

The Asia Society—the leading global organization working to strengthen relationships and promote understanding among the United States and Asia—selected Roots of Health based on its “outstanding contribution in reaching underprivileged social and economic groups by providing a meaningful service to a community and public in the region.”

“We are so honored to be the recipient of the Asia 21 Young Leaders Public Service Award,” said Amina Evangelista Swanepoel, Executive Director of Roots of Health.

Founded in 2009, Roots of Health works with impoverished families in and around Puerto Princesa City on the island of Palawan. The organization provides women and girls with reproductive health education, contraception, and support for healthy pregnancies. Roots of Health also operates nutritional support, childhood and teen education, and vertical garden programs in addition to reproductive health seminars at Palawan State University.

Although birth control and other reproductive health services are available in the Philippines, much of the country—including women and girls in communities served by Roots of Health—are too poor to access such care. As a result, more than half of the Philippines’ 3.4 million annual pregnancies are unplanned—largely the result of a lack of education.

The organization will receive a cash prize of $10,000 (U.S.) during ceremonies at the Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit in New Dehli, India, on November 18, 2011. The summit brings together 150 emerging leaders from across the Asia Pacific region and the United States to address vital issues affecting Asia and the world.