DOH, WHO, UNFPA program seeks safe childbirths

Of the recorded 5,026 child deliveries in Taguig City in 2004, only fewer than 2,000 women sought medical attention from hospitals, clinics and lying-in centers.

These statistics are among the alarming results of a health survey conducted by the city’s health department.

More than 60 percent or 3,043 remained at home to give birth while only being assisted by a family member or a neighborhood hilot.

Ronela is one of these women. Her two children, five-year-old Rosamay and one-year-old Ignacio, were both delivered in their small house in the middle of a squatter’s community.

To get to her house, you have to maneuver on wooden planks that do not provide much help in the year-round muddy walkway. The leaky hoses that carries water from a deep well to the houses, snake through the path and complicate the trek.

Ronela’s house, like the rest of those in the community, is a small room that serves as a kitchen, dining and sleeping area. This is where she will also give birth to her next child probably due in three months.

The cost of childbirth is the key driver why most women in depressed communities in Taguig prefer to give birth in their houses. In fact, many of them do not seek or receive prenatal and maternal care during their whole nine months of pregnancy because of financial difficulties. Majority of the income of these households can barely cover for food and clothing needs. Health care is the least of their priorities.

According to Ronela, her husband Ricky has no permanent job and finds work where he can as a carpenter in construction sites. As she stays home to raise their children and the child growing inside her, life for the family when Ricky is in between jobs is especially hard.

With Ricky just barely taking home P250 a day when he has work, Ronela has to budget this money for a week, even two, to buy food that usually consists of rice, dried fish and chicken noodles. And since daughter Rosamay will be going to school this year, new expenses will add burden to the family that is already in extreme poverty.

Many women like Ronela risk giving birth at home to save every precious pesos that they have. However, the unsanitary surroundings, absence of proper medical attention, and low awareness on health care pose immense health risks as mother and child are easily susceptible to a lot of diseases and infections.

Worse, childbirth complications like loss of blood and fetal position that require specialized care may result in death of the mother, child, or both.

For these reasons, the Center for Health Development National Capital Region-Department of Health (CHD-NCR) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have selected Taguig City as a pilot for the health program "Reaching Every Woman, Neonate and Adolescent in Depressed Communities with Basic Health Services" or Project RED, with funding from the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA).

The five-month program aims to jump-start efforts to protect and promote maternal and child rights in participating barangays in Lower Bicutan that include Dalampasigan, Purok 60, Kapit-Bisig, Bayview and Lakeview.

Activities that support the program like the creation of support groups for mothers and dissemination of information materials on maternal health, breastfeeding, safe deliveries, and childcare, are being developed to empower expectant mothers to be aware of proper health care and seek comprehensive reproductive health services.

Project RED also aims to increase access to high-quality reproductive health services through the improvement of medical facilities.

Recently, CHD-NCR, WHO and UNFPA donated to Taguig City medical supplies and equipment for the Lower Bicutan Health Center, Signal Lying-in and Health Center, and Reproductive Health Clinic.

Training to enhance the competence of midwives and barangay health workers are also being done.

To ensure success and sustainability, the program builds on community empowerment as a strategy and process.

The recruitment of volunteers, formation of action groups, and involvement of barangay leaders are integrated into the program.

Lessons from the Taguig health project will be used as basis for the implementation of the program in similar communities across the country.