BAGUIO CITY – A maternal and child health (MCH) program in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) aimed at reducing maternal mortality rates could provide a model for other Philippine regions to emulate.
“We’ve seen how the program broadened the approach to health care delivery in maternal and child health as well as in neonatal services by being proactive to the needs of communities,” said Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Herminigildo Valle, who also shared that the program is aligned with President Duterte’s agenda of promoting the well-being of the young generation.
Under the Project for Cordillera-wide Strengthening of the Local Health System for Effective and Efficient Delivery of Maternal and Child Health Services, maternal mortality ratio has fallen to 45 in 2015 from 65 per 100,000 live births in 2010.
In 2016, 363 barangays from Apayao, Benguet, and 6 municipalities of Abra also adopted MCH emergency plans in their disaster risk reduction (DRR) plans. In addition, facility-based delivery rates in CAR rose to 92% in 2015 versus 68% in 2010.
The push for the MCH project began in 2012 when the DOH, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and local government units of CAR saw the need to address the high maternal and child mortality rate in far-flung, impoverished areas in the Philippines.
“We hope that the health quality management mechanisms initiated through the project will be replicated in other parts of the Philippines. These include conducting maternal and neonatal death review and supportive supervision of mothers at the community level,” said JICA Senior Representative Takahiro Morita during the project’s closing ceremony in Baguio City last January.
“We encourage our partners to sustain the interventions the project started to benefit more women and children and further contribute to the Philippines’ inclusive, sustainable development,” added Morita.
Already, the MCH program has expanded to other areas including Ifugao, Kalinga, Mountain Province, and 21 other municipalities in Abra and Baguio City.
By Lara Javier