LGUs tapped to solve childbirth, pregnancy woes

Alarmed by the high incidence of women’s deaths during pregnancy and childbirth, the Department of Health is mobilizing local government units (LGUs) and other sectors in a concerted campaign to solve that problem.

The DOH launched the campaign amid the urgent need for clear, substantial and long-range interventions to improve the overall health, nutrition and family status of women.

Studies show that 10 Filipino women die every 24 hours from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Most are in the rural areas and of low income.

Major causes are lack of pre- and postnatal checkups, complications in childbirth, infection due to unsterilized delivery at home, and below-standard nutrition, particularly deficiencies in Vitamin A, iron and iodine. Over 60 percent of pregnancies are high risk.

The risk factor increases from mothers who have poor health, who are younger (under 18) or older (over 35), and whose pregnancies are narrowly spaced. The risk also rises after the third pregnancy.

Even at birth, most children start life with a health and nutrition risk, primarily caused by the health and nutrition status of their mothers.

To address the problem squarely, the DOH is implementing the Women’s Health and Safe Motherhood Project. Started in 1996 and scheduled for completion this year, the project is comprised of civil works, logistics and training on maternal care.

The DOH is responsible for all technical and managerial directions, LGUs for actual delivery of services, and the non-government Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) for information dissemination.

The five-year project involves the rehabilitation and construction of rural health units and barangay health stations in all of the country’s 15 regions, excluding Metro Manila.

At the same time, hospitals being run by the DOH and the LGUs nationwide are getting emergency obstetrical drugs and supplies, traditional birth attendant kits, food supplements (Vitamin A, iron and iodine) for pregnant women and lactating mothers, obstetrical kits for midwives, and disposable home delivery kits for low-income women.

The DOH is providing these materials, equipment and supplies to the LGUs for distribution to their constituents through the health facilities in their respective areas.

Moreover, maternity waiting homes and lying-in clinics are being built in selected health facilities.

Government health workers involved in maternal care services are also being trained, with distance learning programs being provided to those assigned in remote areas.

The project also covers logistical support for the detection and treatment of reproductive tract infection, cervical cancer and other diseases that pose a threat to healthy pregnancy and childbirth.