Over Php2 Billion For RH Still Available - Palace [Archive]

Arthur Little

12th January 2016, 19:14

Days after it'd been reported that free contraception for the poor was being axed :xxmixed-smiley-017: from the Government Budget, comes the news that more than Php2 billion worth of funding would [still] be made available for the implementation of the Reproductive Health Law this year ... according to a Malacanang source.

www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/01/13/1542065/over-p2-billion-rh-funds-still-available-palace

Doc Alan

14th January 2016, 19:40

Hopefully ... :pray: the funds will be utilised for their intended purpose!

Thankfully over P 2 billion of the RH funds are still available for this year, even if reduced from the original by over a third ( apparently for use towards buying aircraft for defence of the country’s maritime borders ). President Aquino’s administration had, to their credit, promoted the passage of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law ( RHL ) - it’s unfortunate that now it seems unable to persuade Congress to restore full funding.

The RHL was only upheld by the Supreme Court in 2014 after well over a decade of debate. This covered issues such as :-

* the country’s increasing maternal mortality rate ( 14 deaths / day due to unsafe pregnancy ; 120 deaths / 100,000 live births, compared to 8 in the UK );

* unintended pregnancies ( up to half ; 1 in 10 aged 15 - 19 is already a mother ) ;

* poor quality of maternal health care ( skilled attendance at birth ; good emergency obstetric care );

* and there is now an " epidemic " of HIV infection ( over 20 cases reported daily, according to Department of Health - alarming, even allowing for more reliable reporting ).

The originally allocated budget for reproductive health was only part of an ALREADY inadequate health budget. In 2015 the Department of Health apparently received just over P 100 billion ( 4.5% of GDP ) ; for a nation of over 100 million. The UK spends nearly 10% of GDP on health ( GDP 10 times that of the Philippines, for a population of 63 billion ).

We all know that most of the Philippine population is Catholic, and opposition by the Catholic church delayed implementation of the RHL. I’m neither Catholic nor a politician, and I’ve raised concern before on this Forum about maternal and child health. Added to this may now be the apparent rapid rise in HIV infections ( especially male-to-male transmission by " unprotected " sex ).

RHL requires - among other things - sex education in schools; free condoms and birth control pills ; and free medical care after an abortion. The 2016 budget cut seems unreasonable, and if it can’t be fully restored, let’s hope the money available IS indeed put to best use.