EDITORIAL - Dying while giving life

In the age of cloning and cyberspace, the benefits of science remain beyond the reach of millions of people. There’s a raging debate on the accessibility of treatment for AIDS in the Third World. Children are still dying from easily treatable ailments such as diarrhea and the flu. And as the world marks Women’s Month, the United Nations Children’s Fund laments that thousands of women in developing countries continue to die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth.

Almost every minute of every day, a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth, according to the Unicef. Carol Bellamy, Unicef director, said there has been no significant decline in maternal mortality for nearly a decade. Unicef estimates that 515,000 women die each year in pregnancy or childbirth; almost all the cases are in developing countries. The odds of a woman dying in childbirth in a developed country are one in 4,100; the odds rise dramatically to one in 13 in the developing world.

Lack of access to proper health care is an obvious cause. Developing countries including the Philippines need more health centers, medical equipment and personnel. Many Filipinos in the medical profession, however, prefer to work abroad where the pay is higher. The government is perpetually cash-strapped and can’t build enough health facilities. The nation’s generic drug industry has not taken off. Government officials themselves have pointed out that branded medicines are more expensive in this country than in other parts of Asia.

Another cause of maternal mortality, however, is lack of information on reproductive health care. This is where a government’s population program should come in. Educated women know the risks of pregnancy and childbirth. But what about the millions of women with minimal access to health and education services? If the government can’t provide adequate health care to the people, it should at least provide information to women about reproductive health. It can minimize the incidence of what Carol Bellamy described as dying in the basic act of giving life.