There’s a saying in the Philippines that goes, “Kapag ikaw ay manganganak, kalahati ng katawan mo ay nasa hukay.” And while these days, advances in the medical field have significantly decreased the maternal death rate in the country, it’s still a fact of life that a lot of mothers in the Philippines die during childbirth due to inadequate care, or lack of proper facilities.
Pregnant moms deserve better
According to statistics, the mortality rate of children these days have significantly dropped compared to what they were during the 90s.
However, the maternal death rate hasn’t shown any reduction, and the maternal death rate during 2011 was actually higher than the figures were back in 1990.
This means that while we’re doing our best to keep children healthy, we also need to focus a lot of resources towards giving pregnant moms the best possible care that they can be given.
The RH Bill can help reduce maternal death
One of the major reasons as to why a large number of women die during their pregnancy is due to the fact that they don’t readily have access to adequate health care, and the fact that they’re unable to have proper family planning.
In some cases, women who have been pregnant before are at higher risk for maternal death during their succeeding pregnancies as they might have acquired various conditions during their previous pregnancies which are sometimes left undetected, especially for those without access to proper care.
Additionally, implementing the RH bill can immensely reduce the maternal death rate as it will not only provide access to contraceptives which families can use to prevent unwanted pregnancies and to space out their children.
The RH bill also has a provision which implements emergency obstetric care that would be able to provide help especially in cases of high risk pregnancies.
Providing access to adequate health care before, during, and after pregnancy is key when it comes to lowering the risk of maternal deaths here in the country.
Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net, healthandrights.ccnmtl.columbia.edu
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