DOH discourages women on home-based deliveries

The Department of Health-7 has discouraged the giving of birth at home or in what it called as home-based delivery.

Doctor Ma. Socorro Entera, regional coordinator of DOH-7’s Maternal and Child Health Program, said that childbirth should be done in hospitals, birthing homes, and lying-in centers where highly trained healthcare professionals could handle the delivery better.

Entera admitted that financial constraints have forced women to give birth at home under the care of a traditional birth attendant, also known as “hilot”, but she warned about the health risks or complications, such as hemorrhage, infection and hypertension, that might occur in such set-up.

At least 60 percent of pregnant women in the country choose to deliver at home because of lack of money but then there has been increasing number of maternal deaths also, said Entera.

The DOH-conducted training of “hilots” back in the ‘80s did not help reverse the situation either, and this prompted the government now to shift its focus on safe motherhood from the usual home-based delivery to facility-based delivery, she said.

The latest national health demographic data showed a slight decline in maternal mortality ratio in the country from 172 maternal deaths out of 100,000 live births in 1998 to 162 deaths for every 1000 live births in 2006, Entera said.

Entera, however, said the country is still far behind the medium development goal of 52 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by the year 2015. This goal is the focus of the DOH now as it tries to discourage delivery at home.

The “hilots” can still help DOH to monitor pregnancies in their places, and assist women in the planning of birth that would ensure the mother of safer delivery, said Entera.

The DOH is continuously conducting orientation and training on the basic emergency obstetrics care for all facility-based centers to ensure pregnant women of safe motherhood. — Ferliza C. Contratista/RAE