Making Pregnancy Safer

Making Pregnancy Safer

Making Pregnancy Safer

by Emmanuel James Baclig -
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.

    1. The e-AKaP project, developed by ACCESS Health International, targets high maternal and child mortality rates in the country and aims to address the health issues through a new delivery and training system for community health teams (CHTs). Specifically, the project focuses on two root causes of MMR and children mortality: low training and skills for CHTs and low access to healthcare information for mothers. ACCESS Health International’s solution draws on both innovation and technology. The e-AKaP project provides and trains CHTs to use mobile tablets to access the Filipino web and the application iCHT. iCHT provides access to forms and aggregates and processes health data, cutting down on time-consuming paperwork and providing quick access to information for CHTs.

    2. The National Safe Motherhood Program primarily focuses on the health and welfare of women throughout their pregnancy. It also includes the adolescent pregnant and meeting the unmet needs for family planning contraceptives of women into its priority agenda until 2030. The objectives of this program include Collaborating with Local Government Units 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 Establishing core knowledge base and support systems that facilitate the delivery of quality maternal and newborn health services in the country.

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

    1. Increase access to reproductive health, sexual health, and family planning services, especially in rural areas. Due to the lack of access to care in rural areas, maternal death rates are higher in rural areas than in urban areas. In addition, many men and women in rural and urban areas lack access to information and services related to HIV/AIDS and other STIs

    2. Strengthen reproductive health and family planning policies and improve planning and resource allocation. While the MNPI scores demonstrate that many countries have strong maternal health policies, implementation of the policies may be inadequate. Often, available resources are insufficient or are used inefficiently. In some cases, advocacy can strengthen policies and increase the amount of resources devoted to reproductive health and family planning. In other cases, operational policy barriers – barriers to implementation and full financing of reproductive health and family planning policies – must be removed.

    3. Increase access to high quality antenatal care. High quality antenatal care includes screening and treatment for STIs, anemia, and detection and treatment of hypertension. Women should be given information about appropriate diet and other healthy practices and about where to seek care for pregnancy complications. The World Health Organization’s recommended package of antenatal services can be conducted in four antenatal visits throughout the pregnancy

References:

  • Department of Health. (2018, October 17). National Safe Motherhood Program. Department of Health Website. Retrieved March 16, 2022, from https://doh.gov.ph/national-safe-motherhood-program
  • Harter, G. (2015, July 22). e-AKaP project. Isif Asia. Retrieved March 16, 2022, from https://isif.asia/tag/e-akap-project/
  • The Policy Project. (2012). Philippines Maternal and Neonatal Program Effort Index. http://www.policyproject.com/pubs/MNPI/Philippines_MNPI.pdf