Elsewhere in the forum teen pregnancies and the Philippines Reproductive Health Bill have been discussed. I’m not qualified to discuss politics or the attitude of the Catholic Church, but a health comparison might be of interest.
• The life ( or death ) of a mother in labour and delivery is an indicator of the health of a nation.
• Maternal mortality ( death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of delivery, spontaneous abortion or termination ) is unacceptable, because such deaths are nearly always preventable. 99% occur in low-income countries, nearly 3/5 in sub-Saharan Africa. The mortality rate is about 220 / 100,000 live births in Philippines, and about 5% ( 11 ) of this in UK.
• Mothers’ lives can’t be saved by any one intervention alone. It requires family planning information and means, then quality antenatal / obstetric care when and where it is needed. Otherwise they die from treatable complications – haemorrhage, infection and high blood pressure.
• In the UK, women can look forward to the birth of their children, knowing that if things go wrong, medical teams can help them – for free – such that the vast majority will be safely delivered. Risk factors include social disadvantage, minority ethnic groups, poor/late attenders at antenatal clinics, obesity and age over 35. Only a handful ( less than 100 / year – obviously still too many ) - die from causes related to pregnancy.
• South-East Asian maternal and child mortality are in overall decline, but there is variation within the 10 countries of ASEAN. Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia fare best; Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos worst. Philippines is in between, with maternal mortality apparently rising last year. Problems in the Philippines, apart from being on a larger scale, are different to the UK – far more teen pregnancies, malnutrition, illegal/unsafe abortions, and fewer doctors / midwives.
• Infant and under-5 mortality have levelled off in the Philippines to about 30 / 1000 live births – again, in between other ASEAN countries. Up to half die as neonates. The main causes are pneumonia and diarrhoea ( for which vaccinations are available ), other infections, undernutrition and congenital abnormalities. Most are not medically certified. The mortality is far lower in the UK ( 5 ).
• Chances of the Philippines reaching United Nations “ Millenium Development Goals “ ( MDG’s) by 2015 – maternal mortality 52, and child mortality reduced by 2/3 from 1990 – are probably zero across the entire country , although it’s not alone. Ultimately this is down to investment in and coordination of health care facilities, and how much of the country’s GDP can be spent on health.
