Rethink Social Policies to Unburden the Vulnerable Population sectors
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Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH
Former Undersecretary and Exec. Dir. Commission on Population and Development
Vice President, Forum for Family Planning and Development
April 2, 2023
On March 13, 2023 PSA actually reported 2,478 women died of maternal causes in 2021.
MMR in 2021 was thus 189.21 per 100,000 live births (2,478/1,309,601 x 100,000).
Before 2021, DOH reported the highest number of maternal deaths at 2,511 in 1952 and 2,645 in 1951, making 2021 the third deadliest year for childbearing in the Philippines in 69 years.
In 2019 1,458 women died of maternal causes or 4 per day.
2021 with 2,478 maternal deaths, saw 7 mothers dying everyday (only 1952 and 1951 saw 7 maternal deaths per day).
In the ASEAN region, only Cambodia (218) and Timor L Este (204) have more maternal deaths.
The year 2021 was deadliest in the country not only because of COVID but because the entire health system was reeling. More people died from preventable causes (150,000) than from COVID (110,000) when you look at excess mortality.
It is now apparent maternal health was so affected that it has set us back by half a century. But we should have seen this coming. The country has reduced spending on reproductive health from 15.8pct in 2018 to 8.3pct in 2021 (Technical Note on Key Observations on the Philippine National Health Accounts 2020 and 2021 – USAID Protect Health).
Now is the time to rethink and strengthen social policies in the country that can address this burden on women and vulnerability of the health and population sectors. We cannot be an Upper Middle-Income Country with seven mothers dying every day.
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