‘More Pinays, babies dying of birth complications’

MANILA, Philippines — More Filipino women and babies are dying due to birth complications, according to the Commission on Population and Development (PopCom).

Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), PopCom reported a notable increase in maternal deaths nationwide in the first six months of 2022, compared to the previous year.

The number of fatalities classified under other direct obstetric deaths increased to 468 in the first six months of 2022 from 425 in the same period last year. 

The World Health Organization said direct obstetric deaths or direct maternal deaths are those “resulting from obstetric complications and from interventions, omissions and incorrect treatment.”

“The ranking of the said cause of death has gone up to 39th this year from 44th in 2021. Its share also doubled to .2 percent from .1 percent in 2021,” PopCom said, noting that newborn deaths – although fewer at 3,686 than the 4,424 in 2021 – now ranked 17th from 18th last year.

The growth in the number of maternal deaths, PopCom said, is indicative of the difficulty in obtaining maternal and newborn health services.

“It poses the challenge to improve our local health system for emergency obstetric and newborn care, which was definitely affected during the pandemic,” PopCom officer-in-charge and executive director Lolito Tacardon said.