(VICE) An “epidemic” of unintended pregnancies is building in the Philippines as lockdown measures try to curb Southeast Asia’s worst outbreak.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has said that the number of women expected to give birth this year could increase by 42% or 751,000 to reach a total of 2.6 million if mobility restrictions stay until the end of 2020.
“This is an epidemic within an epidemic,” UNFPA program officer Aimee Santos-lyons told a Senate inquiry on Tuesday, adding that maternal deaths during childbirth are also on the rise.