Children's exposure to unhealthy food marketing is recognised by leading international health organisations as a probable causal factor for obesity. Outdoor advertising near schools embeds commercial food messages into children's everyday lives and acts as a cue for food purchases. This project aimed to describe food advertising in the area around schools in two demographically and culturally disparate cities in the Asia Pacific Region. Data on outdoor food advertising were collected from the area within 500 m of 30 primary schools in each of two cities: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and Manila, The Philippines. For each food advertisement, information was collected on: distance from the school (within 250 or 500 m); size, setting, type and position of the advertisement; and the food/drink product type promoted (core/healthy, non-core/unhealthy and miscellaneous). Density of advertisements was calculated per 100 m 2 . The density of food advertising was twice as high in the area closest to schools compared to the area further from schools (.9 vs. .5 in Ulaanbaatar and 6.5 vs. 3.3 advertisements per 100 m 2 in Manila). Almost all food advertisements were for non-core/ unhealthy foods/drinks (92% in Ulaanbaatar and 85% in Manila), and soft drinks were most frequently promoted. Children in Ulaanbaatar and Manila are exposed to large numbers of advertisements for unhealthy foods/drinks on their way to and from school, and these are particularly clustered within the immediate vicinity of schools. Clear directions for policy development are outlined to reduce children's exposure to this marketing, including restricting the placement and content of outdoor advertising.

Background: Women’s choice of place of delivery has implications on maternal and child mortality. This study aims to provide an updated and detailed comparison of prevalence and determinants of home delivery in the Philippines, and in urban and rural communities. Methods: Based on data from the 2017 Philippine National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), we estimated the prevalence of home delivery and determined factors influencing women’s decision to deliver at home. Analyses were restricted to data from 7229 women who were cohabiting or married, and their last-born child using logistic regression methods for survey data. Results: There remain a considerable proportion of women aged 15–49 years old who delivered at home (17.92% (95% confidence interval (CI): 15.77, 20.30)). More women in rural areas delivered at home (23.53% (95% CI: 20.38, 26.99)) than their counterparts in urban areas (10.72% (95% CI: 8.23, 13.85)), reflecting a significant difference in the home delivery prevalence of women relative to their place of residence. Our regression analyses showed that there is a relatively greater effect observed for the rural population in most of the proximal factors considered including birth order, women’s decision-making power, and emergency preparedness during pregnancy. Wealth index has the most pronounced effect with a significant increase in odds of home delivery among urban and rural women of the lowest wealth categories. Conclusion: The use of institutional childbirth services remains suboptimal in the Philippines with significant disparities between urban and rural communities. Current strategies therefore need to adopt a multi-sectoral approach to address the complex factors influencing women’s decision on place of delivery. Targeted efforts specific to population groups should also be made to contextualize and co-create health care services and solutions that will motivate them to deliver in health facilities.

Background Teenage pregnancy is known to have physical, emotional, and psychosocial effects. Because of these risks, family planning and contraception messages have been disseminated in various forms of media, but their association with teenage pregnancy has not been studied previously in the Philippines. This study aims to examine the association between exposure to various family planning and contraception messages disseminated in various media channels and pregnancy among Filipino women aged 15–19. The study also intended to examine interactions between the different media channels where these family planning and contraception messages are being disseminated on their effect on teenage pregnancy. Methods We used data from the individual recode of the 2017 Philippine National Demographic and Health Survey. We used logistic regression for survey data to  study the association between exposure to family planning and contraception messages and teenage pregnancy. Results Out of 5120 respondents, 44% of respondents have accessed information on contraception from the internet, 25% have heard information about contraception through the radio, 55% of respondents have heard about contraception via television, 15% have read about contraception in the newspapers and magazines, and only 6% have received information on contraception via short messaging service (SMS). There were 420 (8.56%) who have ever been pregnant. After adjusting for confounding variables, those who were exposed to family planning/contraceptive messages via the internet (aOR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.59, 1.35) and newspapers/magazines (aOR: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.44, 1.41) have lower odds of teenage pregnancy, but no strong evidence of their effectiveness. On the other hand, exposure to family planning messages through the radio (aOR: 1.06; 95% CI: 0.71, 1.59), television (aOR: 1.09; 95% CI: 0.72, 1.65), and short messaging service (aOR: 1.29; 95% CI: 0.51, 3.22) marginally increase the risk of teenage pregnancy. We did not find any pairwise interactions between the different exposure variables. Conclusions Our results highlight the need to improve the content and key messages of contraceptive and family planning messages in the Philippines, especially those that are broadcasted online and in print media. There is also a need to increase the reach of these different family planning and contraception messages, especially by utilizing social media and other print and online media platforms commonly used by the youth.

Background: Consistent condom use had been perennially low in the Philippines, despite being a tested and proven public health intervention to prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Considering the high fertility rate, teenage pregnancy rate, and the rapidly increasing incidence of HIV in the country, we identify the determinants of consistent condom use in the country. Methods: We used data from the individual recode of the 2017 Philippine National Demographic and Health Survey. We used logistic regression for survey data to identify factors associated with consistent condom use. Results: Out of 25,074 respondents, only 261 (1.13%) have used condoms consistently with their most recent partner. Reach of information and education campaigns on contraceptive use via different media ranged from 62% via television to 7% via SMS. After adjusting for confounders, those who were able to ask their partners to use condoms during sexual intercourse has 6.10 times (adjusted odds ratio: 6.10; 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI): 2.00. 18.61) odds of consistent condom use than those who were unable to ask their partners to use condoms during sexual intercourse. Meanwhile, HIV knowledge (aOR: 1.17; 95% CI: 0.99, 1.39), hearing about contraception in television (aOR: 1.54; 95% CI: 0.99, 2.39), age (aOR: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.95, 1.00), and number of children (aOR: 1.09; 95% CI: 0.98, 1.20) have borderline significant associations with consistent condom use. Conclusions: The low percentage of those who use condoms consistently, together with the low reach of information and education campaigns highlight the need to further intensify information and education campaigns to promote consistent condom use. Interventions to improve sexual agency and promote HIV knowledge should be implemented to address the burden of unwanted pregnancies and HIV in the Philippines.