LGUs get P258-M equipment for mothers’ health program

To avert cases of pregnancy-related deaths, the Department of Health (DOH) has released over P258 million worth of medical equipment and supplies to local government units (LGUs) in the country’s high-risk areas.

Released were more than P115 million worth of safe home delivery kits, P69 million worth of micronutrients, and P74 million worth of medical equipment, funded by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

These equipment and supplies will, in turn, be distributed by the LGUs to their constituents through the provincial or district hospitals, rural health units, barangay health stations and maternity waiting homes (MWHs) and lying-in clinics (LICs) newly built by the DOH for pregnant women.

The sites for the LICs and MWHs were selected based on maternal mortality rates and poverty levels.

This massive logistical operation forms part of the Women’s Health and Safe Motherhood Project (WHSMP), which the DOH is implementing in coordination with its regional health offices and the concerned LGUs.

Led by Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit and Undersecretaries Antonio Lopez and Alexander Padilla, the WHSMP integrates women’s health and safe motherhood into the regular services of the country’s health units.

The WHSMP also includes an educational component, the "Healthy Nanay, Magandang Buhay" program, which advocates and promotes safe and healthy pregnancy by making households and all other sectors get involved in the fight against the causes of maternal deaths.