now it's nine months since the
philippines started one of the
longest and hardest covid 19 lockdowns
in the world
restrictions have since eased but the
country's commission on population is
warning that one
unintended consequence will be a baby
boom our correspondent in millennia
howard johnson explains
41 year old roverley from berseco manila
is expecting her 10th child
conceived shortly after the city went
under lockdown
the pregnancy was unplanned
contraception wasn't used
and the father of the child has since
left rovery
even now that i'm pregnant we sometimes
only eat once or none at all on a day
it's really hard because even though
you're hungry and you want to eat
you have no money rovely's baby will be
one of an estimated
2 million lockdown babies delivered next
year according to a recent study by the
university of the philippines
the country continues to have one of the
highest fertility rates in southeast
asia
despite a law eight years ago that
provided state funding to make
contraception more readily available
but even with continued opposition from
the catholic church
the policy has been partially successful
in bringing down the birth rate
but now experts are warning that those
early gains will be all but wiped out
we will lose four years that we have
been working on the program
we will have more unplanned pregnancies
right now it's at a rate of 3 out of
every 10 or unplanned it could be
as high as probably half of the
pregnancies next year
so far in a bed as you can see at dr
jose fabelia hospital
dr diana kahibe inspects one of the
world's busiest maternity wards
before the reproductive health act up to
120 babies were born here every day
earning the hospital the title the baby
factory
and we're seeing as you said four to two
beds at the moment
what do you foresee when the baby boom
hit
well during busy times it can even reach
five six seven patients in two beds
put together a double bed because the
maximum capacity bed capacity of this
hospital is just 408.
just for this year we reached more than
600
[Music]
people scatter as a police patrol enters
the area
they're looking for a drug dealer one of
the only ways to escape poverty says
roverley
number one that's my number one worry
if i can still support their education
sometimes when i get angry and lose my
temper
i tell them what if i just put them up
for adoption for rich people
so that they'll be able to have proper
schooling the pandemic has driven the
philippine economy
into recession and opportunities for
those
born at the bottom are bleaker than ever
howard johnson bbc news manila