Tacloban City — Local government leaders from Samar and Southern Leyte gathered for a two-day workshop last September 16–17, 2025, that focused on a shared goal: making the most of PhilHealth resources to support adolescent health.

The Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) organized the activity under its Expanded Youth Leadership and Governance Program (EYLGP). The workshop formed part of the Joint Programme on Accelerating the Reduction of Adolescent Pregnancy (JPARAP) supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

Dr. Ofelia Alcantara, a public health advocate and former mayor of Tolosa, Leyte, facilitated the sessions. Over 20 participants from nine municipalities joined:

• Southern Leyte: Sogod, Libagon, Bontoc, Liloan, Malitbog
• Samar: Marabut, Basey, Sta. Rita, Villareal

A Shared Vision for Young People’s Health

The gathering highlighted the commitment of local government units (LGUs) to reduce adolescent pregnancy and promote youth leadership in health governance. The discussions built on the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act of 2019, which guarantees access to quality and affordable health services.

Dr. Alcantara encouraged LGUs to view PhilHealth funds as a lifeline. “PhilHealth reimbursements are not just numbers, they’re lifelines for our communities. We need to ensure that every peso translates into better care, especially for our youth,” she said.

Related articles:

• Learning and Working Together: Insights from the Youth Leadership Colloquiums in Southern Leyte and Samar
• Youth and Local Leaders Join Forces to Prevent Teen Pregnancies in Samar
• Southern Leyte Shows Progress in Reducing Teen Pregnancies

Strengthening Local Capacity

The UNFPA-ZFFproject  in  partnership with the Department of Health (DOH), Philhealth, and provincial governments of Samar and So. Leyte has already helped several LGUs secure Maternity Care Package (MCP) and accreditation, and ensure Primary Care Facilities (PCFs) are licensed. Despite these gains, LGUs still face challenges in managing funds, navigating PhilHealth’s online portal, and aligning reimbursements with their local health priorities.

To address these issues, the workshop introduced a four-part strategy:

1. Assess current practices and barriers in PhilHealth income use;
2. Develop a local fund management framework linked to UHC and adolescent health;
3. Deliver tailored mentoring and technical tools for LGUs; and
4. Produce a monograph to guide expansion and institutionalization.

The workshop opened a series of capacity-building activities for Samar and Southern Leyte. Municipal Health Officers, PhilHealth focal persons, and Provincial Development Management Officers actively joined the discussions. Partners from UNFPA and KOICA also expressed support.

LGUs in Samar and Southern Leyte now move forward with a stronger plan to maximize PhilHealth financing. Together with ZFF and its partners, they aim to turn adolescent reproductive health from a policy promise into a lived reality for young people in their communities.

Author: Floro Acaba Jr., ZFF EYLGP Provincial Account Officer for Samar

Two provinces in Eastern Visayas reflected on how young people and local leaders can work side by side to address adolescent health. 

Through the Expanded Youth Leadership and Governance Program (EYLGP) of the Zuellig Family Foundation in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund, Southern Leyte and Samar shared lessons, successes, and remaining challenges during their colloquiums held in August 2025.

In less than two years, our program cohort in Southern Leyte cut its adolescent birth rate by 29%, with the municipalities of Liloan and Tomas Oppus reporting zero teen births in 2024. Samar also moved forward, lowering its adolescent birth rate in partner municipalities by 5% and doubling contraceptive use among teens. Both provinces strengthened adolescent-friendly health facilities, supported peer education, and created local committees that regularly meet to tackle youth concerns.

Despite progress, both provinces face similar challenges. Births among very young girls aged 10 to 14 years old increased, often tied to gender-based violence and exposure to harmful online content. In Samar, education completion rates are also declining, while poverty continues to put many adolescents at risk. These issues show that reducing teen pregnancies is not only a health concern but also a matter of child protection, education, and community support.

Related articles:

• Youth and Local Leaders Join Forces to Prevent Teen Pregnancies in Samar
• Southern Leyte Shows Progress in Reducing Teen Pregnancies

Key Insights

Dr. Ramir Blanco, public health specialist, synthesized the insights from both colloquiums, and noted that while each province has a unique context, some common lessons stand out:

• Partnership works best when youth are seen as equal partners. Adolescents bring energy and ideas that make health programs more effective.
• Local governments need to back policies with real budgets. Commitments become meaningful only when resources follow.
• Health services must be accessible and friendly to teens. Both provinces showed that when facilities are welcoming, more adolescents use them.
• The challenge of early adolescent pregnancies requires stronger systems. This goes beyond health and must involve education, social welfare, and community protection.

As the colloquiums showed, the most powerful change comes when young people and leaders share responsibility. When adolescents are given a voice and communities stand behind them, reducing teen pregnancies becomes not just a goal, but a shared achievement for healthier, brighter futures.

On August 15, 2025, Samar leaders, health workers, youth representatives, and development partners came together for the Expanded Youth Leadership and Governance Program (EYLGP) Colloquium. 

Implemented by the Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the EYLGP builds the leadership of both young people and local governments. The program was first piloted in Mindanao and has since expanded to Samar and Southern Leyte, where it is showing promising results.

Samar’s EYLGP journey began in April 2023 when Governor Sharee Ann Tan, together with mayors and municipal health officers, met with the Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) to tackle the province’s high rate of teen pregnancies. At this meeting, the mayors and health officers signed learning contracts to affirm their commitment to the program.

Two years later, in Samar, EYLGP has trained 81 municipal leaders, along with youth leaders and representatives from the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Education, and Department of the Interior and Local Government. Together, they improved local governance systems that directly affect adolescent health.

Related article:

• Southern Leyte Shows Progress in Reducing Teen Pregnancies

The results are encouraging. In partner cities and municipalities, the adolescent birth rate (ABR) went down by 5% from 2022 to 2024: from an ABR of 38.1 per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19 in 2022 to 36.1 in 2024. The use of modern contraceptives among adolescents also more than doubled in the same period. These numbers mean more young people are getting the right information and services to protect their health and future.

However, challenges remain:

• Provincial ABR is still higher than the national target of 30 at 33.7 per 1,000 in 2024, and the overall trend for Samar shows an increase from 27.33 (2022) to 28.28 (2023) to 33.7 (2024).
• Young adolescents (10 to 14 years old) experienced a 28% rise in births from 2022–2024.
• Education completion rates are declining: Elementary school completion dropped from 99.55% (2022) to 87.6% (2024), and high school completion went from 100% to 51.35% over the same period.
• Poverty remains high at 24.9% in 2023, affecting adolescent risk.

During the Colloquium, participants shared what worked best in Samar:

• Functional local committees that regularly meet to address adolescent health issues.
• Local policies backed by real budgets to support teen pregnancy prevention.
• Adolescent-friendly health facilities and services in communities.
• Active involvement of youth leaders in peer education and information campaigns.
• Supportive mayors who invest in programs that keep young people in school.

To sustain these gains, ZFF and partners will continue coaching local governments until 2026. New initiatives include the Masayang Pamilya Parent-Teen Program in Calbayog and Catbalogan, and helping five LGUs integrate adolescent health and development into their long-term plans.

Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) President and Executive Director Austere Panadero challenged Samar to look ahead: “Over the last two years, you have shown remarkable support and commitment, but the question now is whether these efforts are enough to fully address adolescent pregnancy. Sapat na ba? This is an important moment to reflect on our gains and consider how we can move forward faster and more effectively.”

The Expanded Youth Leadership and Governance Program (EYLGP) in Southern Leyte is helping young people and local officials work together to reduce adolescent pregnancies.

A joint initiative of the Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), EYLGP equips both youth leaders and local governments to work side by side in improving adolescent health.

When the program started in 2022, Southern Leyte already had a lower adolescent birth rate (ABR) than the national average. UNFPA challenged the province to aim higher: bring adolescent births down to zero by 2026. With this ambitious goal, the EYLGP scaled up lessons from Mindanao—where ZFF’s youth leadership programs helped lower teen pregnancies—by also including mayors, health officers, and community leaders in capacity-building. The idea was that with both youth champions and competent local governments, results could be achieved faster.

Now on its 22nd month, the program has shown strong results:

• All 10 partner local government units (LGUs) reduced adolescent births, with the provincial cohort ABR dropping by 29%—from 35.8 per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19 in 2022 to 25.4 in 2024.
• This decline is nearly triple the national target rate of 10% per year, showing that Southern Leyte is moving faster than expected.
• Liloan and Tomas Oppus reported zero adolescent births in 2024, while six other LGUs are already below the 2026 program target of 21 per 1,000.

On contraceptive use, the province’s modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) for adolescents reached 3.6%. This is already enough to cover adolescent mothers but shows room to expand access so that sexually active teens who are not yet mothers can prevent their first pregnancies.

Much of this success came from innovations, including the TrucKabataan mobile health service, wider access to adolescent-friendly health facilities, and stronger multi-sectoral governance bodies that meet regularly to address youth concerns.

Youth are at the center of the program. They lead peer education, information campaigns, and initiatives to keep girls in school, showing that when given the chance, adolescents can be powerful advocates for their own health and future.

Despite these gains, challenges remain. Births among girls aged 10 to 14 years old increased, often linked to gender-based violence and access to harmful online content. These cases show the need for stronger child protection policies and community awareness.

The program will continue until 2026, with ZFF and partners coaching LGUs to sustain and expand initiatives. Technical support will also be provided so municipalities can strengthen their health facilities, access PhilHealth reimbursements, and integrate adolescent health into broader development plans.

As Dr. Dorie Lyn Balanoba, EYLGP Director at ZFF, emphasized during the EYLGP Colloquium in Southern Leyte last August 13, 2025, the ultimate goal goes beyond reducing pregnancies: “We also look forward to more empowered adolescents making healthy choices that allow them to achieve their goals and bright future.”

Southern Leyte’s experience shows that the EYLGP model—youth leaders working with responsive LGUs—can deliver results and transform local systems for adolescent health.