More babies being born in health centers – survey

MANILA, Philippines - Six in 10 childbirths took place in a health facility in 2013, an improvement from previous years, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported recently.

The preliminary results of the 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) of the PSA showed there has been some improvement in delivery care with an increase in facility-based deliveries and in births delivered by health professionals.

“Among all births in the five years preceding the 2013 NDHS, 60 percent were delivered in a health facility. This is higher than the figure reported in the 2008 NDHS, which is 44 percent,” the PSA said.

It added that the percentage of births delivered by a health professional increased to 73 percent in 2013 from 62 percent in 2008.

The percentage of births delivered in a health facility varied across regions in the country as it was recorded at 76 percent in Metro Manila and 12 percent in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Of the country’s 17 regions, eight posted remarkable increase in the percentage of facility-based deliveries.

These are Eastern Visayas, SOCCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato - Cotabato - Sultan Kudarat - Sarangani - General Santos City), Central Visayas, Ilocos, Caraga, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Cagayan Valley, and Bicol.

Meanwhile, only three regions showed a significant increase in the percentage of childbirths with skilled attendants such as Eastern Visayas (67 percent in 2013 from 43 percent in 2008), SOCCSKSARGEN (56 percent in 2013 from 36 percent in 2008) and CAR (85 percent in 2013 from 67 percent in 2008).

The results also show that antenatal care has improved over the past two decades.

The percentage of those with antenatal care from a health professional climbed to 95 percent in 2013 from 88 percent in 2003 and 83 percent in 1993.

Moreover, the percentage of women with four or more antenatal care visits for the most recent live birth rose to 84 percent in 2013 from 70 percent in 2003 and 52 percent in 1993.

While improvements have been noted, the PSA said more still has to be done.

“There is still a need to further improve and strengthen the implementation of the National Safe Motherhood Program by the Department of Health in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target by 2015 at 100 percent,” the agency said.

Adopted by countries in 2000, the MDGs need to be achieved by 2015 to respond to the world’s main development challenges.