Originally Posted by
Doc Alan
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.
