The Safe Motherhood Program of the Philippine Department of Health continues to work on improving the statistics on Antenatal Care Visit, Percentage of Facility Delivery, Percentage of Heath Professional Assisted Delivery and Post Natal Check Ups. DOH aims to curb down the high maternal mortality in the country, which is almost 300 per 100,000 based on UNFPA report. This figure is higher than most countries in Southeast Asia. Globally, there are about 800 women dying each day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.

The common causes of maternal deaths are hemorrhage, sepsis, obstructed labor, hypertensive disorders in pregnancy and complications of unsafe abortion. These causes are all preventable with proper diagnosis and intervention. Measures such as easy access to emergency obstetric care, increased number of births in health facilities assisted by trained birth attendants and universal access to reproductive health services including family planning should be assured.

Facility delivery with skilled attendant present is a very important strategy to reducing maternal mortality in the Philippines where only sixty percent of births are supervised or administered by skilled attendants.

To encourage pregnant women to deliver in health facilities in selected project sites, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Philippine Society for Responsible Parenthood, Inc. (PSRP) initiated the Cash Voucher Assistance Program for those pregnant mothers who will deliver in health facilities assisted by trained birth attendants.

The project ran for six months from June 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020. A total of three thousand one hundred seventy-five (3,175) pregnant women were given cash assistance of PHP2,000.00 right after they delivered their babies in the health facilities. They were also given maternity packs containing maternity pads, newborn clothes, cloth diapers and receiving blanket. The lists of pregnant women were provided by the LGU health centers from the following areas:

• Batangas Province – 1,315 pregnant women
• Rizal Province – 791 pregnant women
• Quezon City – 625 pregnant women
• Manila City – 360 pregnant women
• Marikina City – 84 pregnant women

The ages of the mother beneficiaries ranged from 14 years old to 50 years old with a median of 22 years old. There were three hundred twenty-nine (329) pregnant adolescent beneficiaries with the following age distribution:

• 14 years old – 3 pregnant women
• 15 years old – 20 pregnant women
• 16 years old – 43 pregnant women
• 17 years old – 72 pregnant women
• 18 years old – 84 pregnant women
• 19 years old – 107 pregnant women

The number of living children of all mothers ranged from 0 to 11 with a median of 2 children. These mothers were encouraged to have their scheduled prenatal check-ups in the facility of their choice, preferably the health centers near their area of residence. The number of prenatal check-ups of the beneficiaries ranged from 1 to10 with a median of 4 prenatal visits before they delivered their babies.

Most delivered in public hospitals followed by private Lying-in Clinics.

• Public Hospitals – 1,232 mothers
• Private Lying-in Clinics – 850 mothers
• Private Hospitals – 622 mothers
• Public Lying-in Clinics – 471 mothers

Three thousand one hundred ten (3,110) babies were delivered full-term and the other fifty-nine (59) babies were preterm deliveries. Unfortunately, there were 6 fetal deaths recorded.

Sixty-five percent (2,077/3,175) of the women beneficiaries were PhilHealth members and/or dependent of a member. The remaining thirty-five percent were not members and/or there was no information disclosed as to their membership.

The mother beneficiaries reported that the cash assistance they received was mostly spent to buy baby supplies, milk formula and medicines. A portion was used to pay for utility bills and childbirth expenses.

Indeed, this project has provided a small relief for a few mothers in terms of need for cash during this difficult time of scarce resources due to the effect of the COVID-19 community quarantine and the flooding caused by a strong typhoon. No amount of cash would ever be enough but the importance and benefits of availing ante-natal check-ups and delivering their babies in health facilities assisted by trained health professionals cannot be overemphasized.  

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