isa pa ito! kung ayusin nila yun family planning eh di wala ng problema sa maternal mortality, kaya nga maraming namamatay sa pangangank dahil sa sobrang daming anak tapos walang pera to have a proper hospital care..tapos wala rin naman magawa gov't sa mga street children....

ano ba talaga gustong gawin ng gov't natin?

Despite the country’s ballooning population, family planning remains to be the least priority of the Department of Health (DOH).
Health Secretary Francisco Duque yesterday said the government’s “overwhelming priority” at this time is the improvement of maternal health care to curb the high maternal mortality rate.
While the DOH will promote the use of scientific natural family planning, Duque said it would only be a complementary strategy to advance women’s health and for those who may demand such service.
“We will push natural family planning for women who want to control their fertility and ask the local governments to implement reproductive health policies for their constituents. But for the majority of women who want to get pregnant, our health system must be ready to give safe and quality maternal care where and when they need it,” Duque stressed.
Speaking before delegates to the Midwives’ Congress, Duque said Filipino women are in dire need of quality obstetrical care more than artificial contraceptives.
“More than access to family planning commodities which only cater to a certain segment of women, this is where we need to target our interventions – birth, the time of greatest risk – because every woman will face this situation and will need the care of the most skilled professionals in safe and equipped facilities,” Duque said.
He said six out of 10 Filipino women still deliver babies at home where they have no access to quality obstetric services, which is the primary reason why the country has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in Asia.
“This is the most tragic of all health disparities, particularly in the poorest parts of the country,” Duque said.
Based on DOH statistics, a Filipina of reproductive age today faces a 1 in 120 risk of succumbing to pregnancy-related causes that are preventable or treatable. Globally, it is 1 in 2,800 in the developed regions; 1 in 270 in Vietnam; and 1 in 430 in Sri Lanka.
Duque also revealed that the country’s maternal mortality rate has not dropped since the 1990s, even though women were screened during prenatal care and contraceptive supplies were free and available for the past 30 years.
The failure to lower the maternal death rate, Duque said, is due to the fact that every pregnancy is not provided quality health care and that adequate medical attention is given only after complications have set in.
Duque added that countries like Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam have successfully lowered their maternal mortality rates through only a few basic but targeted key measures, such as access to timely and quality obstetric care, control of infections, availability of reproductive health services, and the deployment of trained midwives.
DOH will implement efforts to reduce the country’s high maternal mortality rate and Duque said it would be President Arroyo’s lasting legacy.