PH among the toughest places in the world for moms

Screengrab from https://www.savethechildren.org

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s ranking in a global index measuring the well-being of mother and newborns has slipped four places to 105 out of 178 countries, one spot below Iraq which is facing significant violence and conflict.

According to the 15th global “State of the World’s Mothers” report released by international non-government organization (NGO) Save the Children, the Philippines’ rank has been dropping despite improvements in the economy.

“The Philippines has slipped despite a 30 percent drop in lifetime risk of maternal death and despite 26 percent drop in mortality,” Ned Olney, Country Director of Save the Children Philippines said in a press conference Tuesday.

“Other countries are making faster, more rapid progress than the Philippines. Philippines has been stalling,” he said.

The index measures five factors to come up with the rankings: Lifetime risk of maternal death, under 5 years-old mortality rate, expected number of years of formal schooling, gross national income per capita, and participation of women in national government.

“Iraq has done amazingly well in keeping their health system functioning despite the conflict, people are still making it to health services and clinics,” Olney said.

“Here in the Philippines, we’ve seen that because of the battering of the storms year after year, health serices and systems physically collapsed and then you get thousands of women,  we’ve seen 45,000 women give birth outside of health systems [in areas devastated by supertyphoon Yolanda,]” he said.

In the Southeast Asian Region, Philippines is behind Singapore (15th), Malaysia (68th), Thailand (72nd), and Vietnam (93rd).

Philippines ranks above Indonesia (113th), Laos (129th), Cambodia (132nd), and Myanmar (157th).

Finland topped the list, making it the most conducive place for mothers, while Somalia ranked the lowest.

The index measures five factors to come up with the rankings: Lifetime risk of maternal death, under 5 years-old mortality rate, expected number of years of formal schooling, gross national income per capita, and participation of women in national government.

“Philippines is not making the progess it should be,” especially in the maternal mortality and under 5 years old mortality,” Olney said.

“Other countries in the region have been doing more and better for women and children than in the Philippines,” he said.

Time in school

The number of years spent in school of children has also declined causing the drop in rankings, Olney pointed out.

“Here in the Philippines, children that went to school in year 2000 got more years of education than children going to school today,” he said.

“Time in school is actually going down per child compared to where the Philippines was in the year 2000 and that has created a really tremendous slip in terms of the education status,” Olney said.

RELATED STORIES

Fertility rate down but more mothers dying

SQA extension on RH law means more mothers dying every day—lawmakers