In response to Making Pregnancy Safer, what are the current programs in the country to address maternal mortality and morbidity? Cite at least 1.
Current programs in the country making pregnancy safer includes:
-
DOH’s Safe Motherhood Program - making health services accessible for Filipino women to ensure safe pregnancy and childbirth
-
DOH’s Family Planning Program - Ensures access to “medically safe, legal, non-abortifacient, effective, and culturally acceptable modern family planning (FP) methods” for all Filipinos. USAID’s Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP) - addresses the overlooked postpartum care and family planning in the Philippines
What can you suggest in order to decrease our maternal mortality and morbidity in the country? Give at least 3 suggestions.
-
Ensure implementation of family planning program in the barangay levels - Proper family planning would decrease unwanted pregnancy and thereby decrease maternal mortality and morbidity due to unsafe abortion. However, despite the current FP program in the country, not all barangays are implementing it. Making sure that even at the smallest level, Filipinos can have access to safe, cheap but quality family planning methods can ease maternal mortality and morbidity.
-
Integration of reproductive health lessons and family planning in the schools and universities - The youth in school may benefit from reproductive health lessons while students from colleges and universities can use these lessons as preparation when they start a family. This is because having preconception care for both men and women optimizes good pregnancy outcomes.
-
Proper compensation for public health care workers - it is not unknown that many healthcare professionals in the country choose to practice abroad, in a greener pasture. The remaining HCWs are left scrambling with increased responsibilities; overworked and underpaid, thus the quality of work is compromised. Ensuring that, like mothers, HCWs who care for them are properly compensated will improve maternal outcomes and the health status of the country in general.
REFERENCES:
Department of Health. (2012). National Safe Motherhood Program. Doh.gov.ph. https://doh.gov.ph/national-safe-motherhood-program
Department of Health. (2017). National Family Planning Program. Doh.gov.ph. https://doh.gov.ph/family-planning
USAID. (2015, September 14). Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP) - Philippines. Usaid.gov. https://www.usaid.gov/philippines/health/mchip
Genuis, S. J., & Genuis, R. A. (2016). Preconception Care: A New Standard of Care within Maternal Health Services. BioMed Research International, 2016, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/6150976