The City of Dagupan, through the City Health Office (CHO), is taking the commitment of the Philippines to the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) seriously.

In an interview with The PUNCH, City Health Officer Leonard Carbonell said the city has managed to keep mortality rate at two deaths per 3,500 live births last year through its well-established programs.

According to Carbonell, the bulk of the budget for on-going health programs of the city is devoted to promoting safe pregnancy and this is evidenced by the allocation of half of  CHO’s budget to the existing ‘Maternal and Child Care Program.’

 This, he said, enabled the city to keep its maternal mortality rate at par with the UN’s baseline even as it aims for zero rate mortality.

While he considers mothers and infants are ‘the most vulnerable groups in the population’, he attributes the setbacks of the program to the lack of initiative on the part of the pregnant women themselves. 

“Ang problema iyong ibang buntis magpapa-check-up lang kapag malaki na ang tiyan, still relying mainly on the advice of the comadrona (traditional birth attendants),” Carbonell said.

The on- going “Maternal and Child Care Program” covers pre-natal registration to regular post- partum visits.

Aside from providing iron tablets and vaccines, a registered expectant mother is assured that in case of a high- risk pregnancy, her case is promptly referred to hospitals and attended to by doctors or registered midwives.

Carbonell added, “Rural health midwives are strategically located over the 31 barangays in the city.”

Improving maternal health is the fifth of eight goals under the MDGs, where each country committed must “reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.”—Don Calugay, UPB

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