The perils of childbirth

The country's maternal mortality ratio (MMR) has not declined since the 1990s, with 172 women out of 100,000 live births dying during child birth, or approximately 4,100 women each year. To me, it is scandalous that at this day and age, women still die during child birth.

Very few of the causes of maternal deaths are known. They include hypertension, post-partum hemorrhage and the complications of unsafe abortion. The lack of available data reveals a seeming indifference to and profound lack of understanding of the problems that lead to maternal deaths.

A maternal death, while tragic in itself, has severe consequences for infants and children. When a mother dies, the prospects for her children dim. Studies have proven that babies whose mothers died in labor do not survive after a year.

In 1995, the Department of Health (DOH) introduced the First Women's Health and Safe Motherhood Program. Through this program, which was completed in 2002, health facilities were built and renovated, and traditional birth attendants and midwives were trained. Yet there was no apparent decline in MMR.

Recently, the DOH started the second run of this program, with a combined funding of P1.5 billion (US $38 million) by the World Bank and the Philippine government.

The Senate, through my motion, will conduct an inquiry into the efforts of DOH and the local government units in the prevention of maternal and newborn deaths. We will look into how government programs are implemented, how funds are allocated, how progress is monitored, and how much technical assistance is still lacking.

In our country, where access to services is inequitable, even more so for poor women, we need to take immediate action to save Filipino mothers from the perils of childbirth.