General Perception On The Current Status Of Maternal Health In The Country: A Reflection

Upon the start of the discussion, we were asked to list down different maternal health indicators. As we were talking among our group mates, the only maternal health indicator that I can initially think of was the maternal mortality ratio (MMR). From there, we started working together and trying to discover what are the indicators of good maternal health. Then we started realizing the need for completion of pre-natal visits, which were delivered in a health care facility, family planning, and the like. But even though there are brains working together in the group, still it is hard for us to exhaust everything. I do believe that this is an indicator that something is missing: are we, as allied health professionals, are truly and fully informed of the indicators of maternal health?

Most of us in the class are women of reproductive age, and yet we don’t know everything with regards to indicators of maternal health. I do believe that it is very important that we know these indicators so that we can help in promoting maternal health, therefore resulting in less maternal deaths, and prevent pregnancy complications from happening. The starter was a good realization for me of the stressing of the need to address maternal health.

On the first few slides, there was a great difference when it comes to picture of maternal health in the world. When I saw it, I was the one to point this out: there was a great difference with the developed and the developing regions. Developed countries have lower MMR than developing countries. This made me a bit bothered and sad because giving birth is supposed to bring joy. But how can the mothers share the joy with their child if they are already dead? Being the light of the house, the mother is important in the upbringing of the child. How are you supposed to take care of your child when you died because of complications that are very preventable have you only addressed them early?

Focusing on the local setting, the trend on maternal deaths in the Philippines is not in a good shape either. In the past few years, it did not significantly went down, and that we are really lagging when it comes to achieving the MDG on maternal death. I imagined if I were the newborn, or the husband, and I am losing my mother, my wife, just because of something so preventable. This makes me want to rush to the Department Of Health and say, “are you not reading your numbers? If you are really serious about this, as early as the first 5 years of MDGs and you didn’t see it getting better, why didn’t you act? And now that the timeline is almost nearing the end, only then you will act fast? Why did you even allow this to happen? The programs that you are about to impose would have saved thousand of mothers. It would have prevented those newborns from losing their mothers.” This made me so heartbroken.

Another issue that was raised during the discussion is on sex education. I was raised in a conservative home, where we were made to

perceive that sex is a taboo thing to talk about, and stressing it out in school (I studied in a Catholic school from elementary to college). I remembered when the first thing that I asked my parents is, “what’s a condom”, because I saw it in their cabinet while my mom is asking me to grab something there. And their answer was, “ it is not a thing for you to know, YET.” I was in Grade 5 during that time.

During the discussion, it was stressed out that there is no other way to teach sex but to outright describe it. And I do agree with that. If you were a child, and the teaching is telling you that the bee will meet the flower, the imagination will tell you of the concrete flowers and bees thing, not the penis and the vagina. Being the liberated one, I would really expect that I would be an unpopular opinion when I will talk about it in the house. It will be an argument and at the end of the day, I will be perceived as the perverted one. It is so hard to convince someone whose belief is that sex is a shady thing, something that is discussed under the sheets, rather than something that should be openly discussed. And I do believe that parents have the responsibility to teach their child of it, not allow somebody else to teach it to them. If they are the ones to teach, they will be well guided, well informed, they will be more comfortable in discussing it. I do pledge that when I become a mom someday, I will teach my child sex education. It is the RIGHT of the CHILD to know. And as a mother, I am more than willing to share my knowledge about it. Especially now, that I am taking this course. It made me realize the importance of education in preventing something terrible from happening