Monday, September 24, 2007 Editorial: Horror story
THE World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that more pregnancy-related and neonatal deaths will occur in the Philippines if no effective reproductive health program would be established and implemented by the government, according to a news report.
In a press briefing in Makati City organized by the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop), WHO medical officer Howard Sobel said 529,000 women in the world die of birth-related causes, leaving one million children motherless and vulnerable.
"In the Philippines, about 10 mothers a day die in childbirth, with almost 30 very young children being orphaned or having difficulty surviving everyday. In fact, the country is one of the 42 countries that accounted for 95 percent of global under-five mortality," he said, adding that motherless children are 10 times more likely to die prematurely than those with mothers.
Four out of five maternal deaths are reportedly the direct result of obstetric complications, making maternal mortality highest during labor and the two days following birth. Hypertensive disorders followed by postpartum hemorrhage along with abortive outcomes are also among the causes of maternal deaths.
Young Filipina mothers aged 15-19 are twice more likely to suffer from maternal complications than those in their 20s while 50 percent of neonates die in the first two days due to unskilled attended births and delay in the start of breastfeeding, Sobel added.
The facts cited above, which appear more like the script of a horror story than the ingredients of a news item, ought to rouse our country's leaders and force them to pay more attention to the plight of Filipina mothers and their newborn.
The situation calls for a more forceful campaign by the government towards a sensible and more effective reproductive health program for the protection of future mothers and their babies.
