Implementation of the Strategy for Prevention and Resolution of Adolescent Pregnancy, 2017–2026: A Midterm Assessment (2021)

Abstract

    This research aims to evaluate the implementation of the National Strategy for Prevention and Resolution of Adolescent Pregnancy, 2017–2026, during the midterm phase (2021). It examined adolescents' awareness and access to rights, the opinions of provincial sub-committees, and evaluated the operation of oral health promotion services among pregnant adolescents. A mixed-methods research design was employed based on the CIPP Model framework. Multi-stage sampling was conducted across six provinces. The results showed that adolescent birth rates for females aged 10–14 and 15–19 were 0.9 and 24.4 per 1,000 population, respectively. While 66.6% of adolescents were aware of the Act's enforcement, primarily through online media. However, 77.9% of adolescents had never received sexual health services from public health personnel. Regarding the perception and opinions of the provincial sub-committees, the majority viewed the issue of adolescent pregnancy as highly important and considered the strategy to be highly successful. Key obstacles included a lack of understanding regarding the roles and responsibilities of the provincial sub-committees, a lack of in-depth local data, and insufficient budgets; nevertheless, 83.3% of the indicators met the criteria. Regarding dental public health, it was found that adolescent access to services was low due to concerns about fetal safety and a lack of linkage between antenatal care and dental appointment systems. The recommendations from this research are that host agencies for all strategies should urgently build knowledge and understanding of roles and responsibilities for provincial sub-committees, accelerate database system management to support operations, and expedite the development of data collection tools for indicators at the provincial level. Additionally, the role of Local Administrative Organizations should be promoted to support budgets and resources, and Youth-Friendly Health Services (YFHS) should be developed to cover both dental care and contraception to reduce service access issues for adolescents.