DOH, groups to focus on reducing newborn, child, and maternal deaths in PHL

With only a few months to go before the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) deadline in 2015, the government and some civil groups on Wednesday renewed their pledge to end preventable child deaths and eliminate maternal mortality in the country.

On Wednesday, representatives of the Department of Health, local government units, UNICEF, USAID, WHO, and UNFPA converged at the launch of "A Promise Renewed for Kalusugan Pangkalahatan," to support the government's Universal Health Care or Kalusugan Pangkalahatan campaign.

This is an effort to comply with the MDG target in 2015 to significantly reduce maternal and child deaths.

At a press conference, Health Assistant Secretary Paulyn Ubial said that while the target for reducing the deaths of newborns and children aged five and under remains reachable, the number of maternal mortality remains high in the Philippines.

Citing a Family Planning survey in 2011, Ubial said 22 infants per 1,000 live births die in the Philippines. Meanwhile, 30 children ages five and under per 1,000 live births die.

"And our target in 2015 is 19 for infants, and 27 for under five mortality," she noted.

Meanwhile, maternal mortality remains high with 221 deaths for every 100,000 mothers giving birth, Ubial said, noting that the goal for 2015  is 52.

The fourth Millennium Development Goal set by the United Nations is to reduce deaths of mothers, children ages five and under by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015.

She noted that 61 percent of infant mortality is connected to the health of the mother.

"Ibig sabihin, kailangang healthy ang nanay para healthy ang baby," she added.

Among those who attended the launch are Health Secretary Enrique Ona are UNICEF Philippines Representative Lotta Sylwander.

"We want this commitment echoed by local government units to make their health systems ready to protect Filipino mothers and children from succumbing to preventable causes of death and achieve  a better quality of life," Ona said in a statement. — VC, GMA News