MATERNAL MORBIDITY AND MORBIDITY
Answer the following and post your answers here. Cite references of your answers as much as possible.
Other than the factors discussed in the lecture, what do you think are other factors affecting maternal mortality rate in the Philippines?
Inaccessibility to Maternal Care.
In most cases, financial incapacity hinders access to health care particularly maternity and child health services as the inability to provide for equitable utilization of health care in the Philippines has constantly been a predicament. Health-care utilization predominantly caters citizens belonging to a higher socio-economic status as they are more able to pay for the resources to be acquired. Despite national government efforts to ensure less-fortunate patient’s health insurance, discrepancies in maternity and childcare services persist and this owes mostly to a lack of institutionalized health policies that facilitate the use of health services based on necessity. With this, less financially capable Filipino women are challenged in obtaining necessary healthcare consultations, treatments and medical advice.
Low level of contraceptive usage
Aside from financial incapability, deficient knowledge on contraception and sex being a taboo concern may lead to greater incidence of unexpected pregnancies. Moreover, the Philippines being populated with a great number of Roman Catholic population is influenced by Catholic teaching that inhibits the utilization of contraceptives as it is perceived as against the laws of God which is related to the facilitation of abortion. With this, contraception is not readily available in health care institutions, resulting in restricted access and use.
Maternal Care Quality
Owing to the existing problem of healthcare professionals being overworked, underpaid and understaffed, the quality of maternal care provided is jeopardized. Moreover, the Philippines belonging to a third-world country elucidates the lack of substantial resources and advanced technology which are crucial entities to ensure quality maternal care to be able to provide the ideal and optimal treatments and actions for efficient childbearing and delivery procedures.
What are the top 3 causes of maternal mortality ratio in the Philippines? Top 3 maternal morbidity?
According to the Philippine Department of Health (2013), the top 3 causes of maternal mortality is (1) Labor, delivery and puerperium pregnancy complications, (2) Pregnancy-related hypertension, and (3) postpartum hemorrhage. While on the other hand the top 3 causes for maternal morbidity comprise of (1) hemorrhage, (2) infection, and finally, (3) unsafe abortion.
References
Baccay, K.B. (2022). Prenatal Care and Safe Motherhood Lecture Video PART I. VLE. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SXIWQpPevbtDjGVAOOlWiDtyE9CqJskQ/view
Department of Health. (2013). Maternal Deaths by Main Cause. https://doh.gov.ph/Statistics/Maternal-Deaths-By-Main-Cause
Goyet, S., Broch-Alvarez, V., & Becker, C. (2019). Quality improvement in maternal and newborn healthcare: lessons from programmes supported by the German development organisation in Africa and Asia. BMJ Global Health, 4(5), e001562. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001562
Rau, A. (2015). Maternal Mortality in the Philippines. https://borgenproject.org/maternal-mortality-philippines/
Paredes, K.P. (2016). Inequality in the use of maternal and child health services in the Philippines: do pro-poor health policies result in more equitable use of services? International Journal for Equity in Health, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-016-0473-y