RP not a good place for mothers, says US study

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has placed 42nd in the rank of places not good for mothers to live in, according to a study by a US-based organization.

In the study by Save the Children Inc. for the 10th Annual State of the World’s Mothers 2009 Report, the group ranked 75 less developed countries based on various indicators.

Sen. Pia Cayetano, chairperson of the Senate committee on social justice, noted that the country slipped four notches lower from rank 38th last year.

Cayetano, also president of the Committee of Women Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, said the Arroyo government should not close its eyes to the country’s mediocre ranking in the survey, released this week to mark Mother’s Day today.

Key indicators based on health, education, and socio-economic status in each country was used to rank the best place for mothers in the world.

“It is lamentable that the Philippines is becoming more ‘mother-unfriendly’ when the government should be working for the fulfillment of our Millennium Development Goals (MDG), particularly in the reduction of maternal mortality and children under five mortality,” Cayetano said.

“We are retrogressing instead of advancing with respect to these goals. These are red marks on Mother’s Day that should merit more than the usual lip service from our government, headed as it is by a woman president who is supposed to be the ‘mother’ of the entire nation,” she said.  

Cayetano noted that the National Economic and Development Agency (NEDA) had admitted that the country would not be able to meet its MDGs by 2015 due to the global economic crisis.

Covering 154 nations, the State of the World’s Mothers 2009 survey came out with separate rankings for the more developed (Tier1), less developed (Tier 2), and least developed countries (Tier 3) based on how each country in each tier scored on the Mothers’ Index.

The Mothers’ Index is calculated as the weighted average of children’s well-being (30 percent), women’s health status (20 percent), women’s educational status (20 percent), women’s economic status (20 percent), and women ‘s political status (10 percent).

Sweden, Norway and Australia were the top three countries in Tier 1; Cuba, Israel and Argentina in Tier 2; while Maldives, Cape Verde and Uganda in Tier 3.

Bracketed in Tier 2, the Philippines (42nd) got a lower ranking than most of its Southeast Asian neighbors including Thailand (11th), Vietnam (23rd) and Malaysia (36th), although it placed higher than Indonesia (58th).

Other Asian countries that ranked higher than the Philippines in Tier 2 include: Israel (second); South Korea (seventh); Kazakhstan (eighth); China (14th); Kyrgyztan (17th); Bahrain (21st); Uzbekistan (22nd); Kuwait (25th); Mongolia (29th); Armenia (32nd) and United Arab Emirates (41st).

Underscoring its poor ranking, Cayetano said the Philippines’ Mothers’ Index was critically weighed down by the following indicators: only 60 percent of births were attended by skilled health personnel in 2007; only 33 percent of women used modern contraception in 2008; 28 children under five died per 1,000 live births in 2007; 28 percent of children under five were moderately or severely underweight in 2007; only 83 percent gross secondary enrolment ratio in 2007; and only 93 percent of population has access to safe water in 2006.

Cayetano also reiterated that despite great advances in medical science, around 10 to 11 mothers in the Philippines still die from childbirth complications every day. The current national rate of 162 deaths per 1,000 live births is said to be one of the worst maternal mortality rates in Asia.

”At least ten Filipino mothers are therefore expected to die on birth-related complications this Sunday, May 10, when the entire world observes Mother’s Day. It could also mean the same number of children will be growing up without a mother,” Cayetano said.

”What’s also troubling is that the Reproductive Health Bill and Magna Carta of Women are being sidelined in Congress because this administration refuses to support measures seeking to advance the well-being of mothers and their children,” she said.

Cayetano said she had long been pushing for the realignment of government funds for basic community health services, particularly to finance the appointment of at least one midwife for every barangay and the upgrading of facilities in primary health care centers that render maternal and childbirth services. – Aurea Calica