Making Pregnancy Safer

Making Pregnancy Safer

Making Pregnancy Safer

by Leonardo Vincent Placido -
Number of replies: 0

 

1. In response to Making Pregnancy Safer, what are the current programs in the country to address maternal mortality and morbidity? Cite at least 1.

  • The National Safe Motherhood Program was developed by the Department as a way to address the increasing trend in the maternal mortality ratio in the country. The program aims to help in improving women’s health and well-being by:

 

    1. Collaborating with LGUs in establishing sustainable, cost-effective approach of delivering health services that ensure access of disadvantaged women to acceptable and high quality maternal and newborn health services and enable them to safely give birth in health facilities near their homes, and

    2. Establishing core knowledge base and support systems that facilitate the delivery of quality maternal and newborn health services in the country.”

  • The United States Agency for International Development’s Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program works with the Philippine Government towards “addressing the unmet need for postpartum family planning in the country.” The goals of the 21-month program are the following:

    1. To create an enabling policy environment for postpartum family planning/postpartum intrauterine devices (PPFP/PPIUD)

    2. To establish resources and capacity for service delivery, and

    3. To provide training for PPFP/PPIUD adoption and scale-up through provision of technical assistance to the Department of Health (DOH).

 2. What can you suggest in order to decrease our maternal mortality and morbidity in the country? Give at least 3 suggestions.

 

  • Improve healthcare delivery and facilities in the country. All women need access to high quality care in pregnancy, and during and after childbirth. Because maternal health and newborn health are closely linked, it is particularly important that all births are attended by skilled health professionals. This is because timely management and treatment can make the difference between life and death for the mother as well as for the baby (World Health Organization). Improving the healthcare delivery and facilities in the country will also improve the quality of healthcare, and therefore would also lead to a decrease in the maternal mortality and morbidity in the country.
  • Strengthen maternal health education strategies. Karlen et al. (2011) found that “lower levels of maternal education were associated with higher maternal mortality even amongst women able to access facilities providing intrapartum care.” They suggested that more attention should be given to the wider social determinants of health when devising strategies to reduce maternal mortality and to achieve the increasingly elusive MDG for maternal mortality. Providing maternal health education to the client can help her take the proper preventive measures in order to minimize not only the harm to the fetus but harm to herself as well.
  • Make reproductive health services more accessible. Melgar et al., (2018) stated that “adolescents in the Philippines face many legal, social and political barriers to access sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, putting them at higher risk of unplanned pregnancy, and abortion.” In order to decrease the cases of maternal mortality and morbidity in the country, preventing unwanted or unplanned pregnancies should be given attention to as it would also lead to the reduction of women opting for unsafe abortion.

 

 

 

References:

Department of Health. (2018, October 17). National Safe Motherhood Program. Department of Health. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://doh.gov.ph/national-safe-motherhood-program 

Karlsen, S., Say, L., Souza, J.-P., Hogue, C. J., Calles, D. L., Gülmezoglu, A. M., & Raine, R. (2011). The relationship between maternal education and mortality among women giving birth in health care institutions: Analysis of the cross sectional who global survey on maternal and perinatal health. BMC Public Health, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-606 

Melgar, J. L., Melgar, A. R., Festin, M. P., Hoopes, A. J., & Chandra-Mouli, V. (2018). Assessment of Country Policies Affecting Reproductive Health for Adolescents in the Philippines. Reproductive Health, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-018-0638-9 

U.S. Agency for International Development. (2015, September 14). Maternal and child health integrated program (MCHIP) - Philippines. U.S. Agency for International Development. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://www.usaid.gov/philippines/health/mchip 

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Maternal mortality. World Health Organization. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/maternal-mortality