“In Central Luzon, there were 95 maternal deaths and 566 neo-natal deaths reported in 2017. Women continue to die despite having available knowledge and resources to prevent such deaths,” the regional DOH office reported here yesterday in commemoration of “Safe Motherhood Week.”
The DOH said that “to be able to respond and resolve the problem, health system needs to be fed accurate and timely information on the medical causes as well as non-medical factors that may lead to such deaths.”
The agency noted that “high maternal mortality remains to be one of the concerns that prompted initiatives from various sectors to address its causes. Aimed at undertaking concrete actions to address system’s gaps, therefore avoiding preventable deaths, from occurring.”
The DOH also noted that “safe motherhood program calls for every pregnant woman to have quality, focused antenatal care, and to strengthen pregnancy tracking and surveillance, most especially of high risk pregnancies, Part of quality antenatal care includes creating a birth plan at the first visit and reviewing it during every check-up thereafter.”
