CLARK FREEPORT — Infant mortality rate in Central Luzon has continued to decrease, from 5.9 percent to 5.4 percent.
“The decrease is due to an intensified campaign of ways to save newborns,” said Lailani Mangulabnan, Department of Health (DOH) medical specialist during a nutrition forum here.
She said the campaign included “breastfeeding, complementary feeding, Hib vaccine, water sanitation, antenatal steroids, antibiotics for premature rupture of membranes, measles vaccine, and antimalarial intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy.”
“DOH and the National Nutrition Council (NNC) have been training midwives, barangay health workers, and barangay nutrition scholars on Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF),” Mangulabnan noted.
She said the campaign involved trained nutrition officers in 63 percent of barangays in Central Luzon or 491 out of 775 targeted barangays.
Nueva Ecija had the most number of such barangays at 158 followed by Tarlac with 106, Pampanga with 86, Zambales with 60, Bulacan with 41, and Bataan with 40.
Mangulabnan also cited figures showing that Pampanga has the most number of women who initiated breastfeeding after giving birth at 69.7 percent followed by Bataan-61.41 percent; Bulacan-56.7 percent; Nueva Ecija- 52.86 percent; Aurora-52.12 percent; Tarlac-51.38 percent; and Zambales-45.87 percent.
She also noted that Zambales topped the most number of women who exclusively breastfeed their child until the sixth month with 88.45 percent followed by Bataan with 78.67 percent; Aurora-77.1 percent; Tarlac-65.43 percent; Nueva Ecija-61.91 percent; Pampanga-58.67 percent; and Bulacan-43.29 percent.
