A DAVAO CITY councilor said Monday, November 7, that most of the cases of the maternal deaths are from the Indigenous Peoples (IP) communities.
Councilor Mary Joselle Dilig-Villafuerte, committee chair on health, said with the passage of Maternal Newborn Child Health and Nutrition (MNCHN) Ordinance, the city now has a wider platform on which to intensify maternal services especially in the far-flung areas.
She said the ordinance was created to address the issues and concerns on MNCHN and with the passage of the ordinance, it will further strengthen the city's health programs.
“I’m very glad that my colleague, Councilor Halila Saudagar has introduced an IP Maternal health ordinance so we have to work very closely because together with DOH we found out that a lot of our maternal deaths really come from the IP communities,” Villafuerte, who attended the regular Kapehan ng Dabaw at SM City Ecoland, said.
Based on the MNCHN resolution, it cited a 2010 report that maternal mortality in Davao City is 68 deaths per 100,000 live births and infant mortality is 15.5 per 1,000 live births.
These figures are all above the Millennium Development Goal of the Department of Health (DOH) which are pegged at 52 per 100,000 live births and 12 per live births, respectively for mother and infants.
Villafuerte said that the alarming deaths are attributed to the fact that most women in Davao City are unaware of the importance of or unable to access the pre-natal services or failed to follow the required minimum ante-natal visits of at least four times.
Davao City Health Centers are also wanting of sufficient supplies, equipment, facilities and trained service providers that lead to the continued patronage of the traditional birth attendants also known as hilot.
Villafuerte urged the pregnant women not to give birth at home to ensure a safer delivery, saying that there are already health centers that provide a 24-hour maternal services to cater individuals to avoid cases of maternal and infant deaths in Tibungco and Paquibato.
Villafuerte said it will institutionalize the health programs of the city to avoid the prevalent cases of maternal and infant mortality due to inaccessible maternal services.
“Right now, I would like to say yes it sounds like it’s a good news, 28 na lang ang maternal deaths natin presently but we don’t want to relax,” Villafuerte said.
Recognizing that there are still IPs who give birth to their child at home, Villafuerte said they eye to raise the bar of awareness pertaining to the coverage of MNCHN and lobby legal actions to increase the health budget of the city to effectively deliver the programs.
“Many of the deaths really come from the IP communities. So we still need to raise more awareness regarding MNCHN,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte said the ordinance will serve as a tool, which the city can use to implement the programs in the City Health Office for the maternal and child health, full immunization of the children, prevention of diseases and good nutrition.