MSP presented regulations and digital tool for pregnancy care and prevention of violence in girls and adolescents – Ministry of Public Health

2023-07-06 20:28:24

Quito, July 6, 2023

With the purpose of guaranteeing care and access to health services for children and adolescents in the country, the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) presented the Regulations for pregnancy care; the Regulations for the prevention and detection of violence in girls and adolescents and the digital tool for mapping pregnancy in this population of Ecuador.

José Ruales, Minister of Public Health, led the event together with Markus Behrend, Official Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Juan Enrique Quiñonez, Deputy Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Ruales pointed out that “this problem, not only for Ecuador, but for many countries in the region, has been faced for more than 20 years with various strategies and actions in the country. The MSP has 1,515 qualified health establishments to provide comprehensive and friendly care services for adolescents, here they can receive expedited care, without the need for appointments. In addition, 1,516 adolescent clubs have been implemented”.

The cooperation of international organizations and intersectoral articulation has allowed the implementation of tools for decision-making and the generation of strategies for the well-being and integral development of adolescents in the country.

Behrend indicated that “adolescent pregnancy is an indicator of underdevelopment due to difficulties in accessing education, it is often linked to violence against girls and adolescents. The national effort with the presentation of these two normative documents seeks to strengthen the work in the territory to prevent adolescent pregnancy and thus change the lives of this specific population.

For his part, Quiñonez pointed out that pregnancy in girls and adolescents is not only a public health problem, it is a social problem that must be resolved comprehensively. The Government of Ecuador involves several instances to achieve adequate prevention of pregnancy. I congratulate the MSP for the initiative to develop these tools”.

Among the regulations is the Comprehensive Care Manual for Pregnant Girls and Adolescents Under 15 years of age, which has a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach based on up-to-date scientific evidence. Likewise, the Screening Instructions for the prevention and detection of violence in girls and adolescents from 10 to 18 years of age, which provides guidelines to health professionals for the prevention and early detection of cases of alleged physical, psychological and sexual violence.

Both documents are mandatory for professionals in health establishments of the Comprehensive Public Health Network and Private and Complementary Network.

The Dynamic Mapping of Adolescent Pregnancy in Ecuador is a digital platform built with the collaboration of UNFPA and UNICEF that allows to have updated statistics of the variables of this problem by year, age, province and canton. The MSP is the entity in charge of the administration and regular updating of the system every six months.

The platform will allow health professionals, researchers, academia, and civil society to know statistical figures of pregnancy in girls and adolescents in Ecuador. It is available through www.salud.gob.ec by accessing the banner on the home page.