Maternal deaths rise amid pandemic, contraceptive use still low —Lagman

The number of maternal deaths in the country increased due to the hampered delivery of reproductive health services amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the contraceptive prevalence rate is still far from ideal, 10 years since the Reproductive Health (RH) Law was passed, veteran lawmaker and one of the bill's authors Edcel Lagman said Wednesday.

Lagman was referring to the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, which provides for free reproductive health services to communities, including contraceptives.

Lagman noted that while the RH law provided an enabling environment for women and couples to freely determine whether, when or how often to have children en route to a considerably safe motherhood, healthier infants, prosperous communities and genuine human development, the implementation of the law remains a challenge, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The RH law has contributed in no small measure to decreasing maternal mortality from 162 deaths per 100,000 live births before the law was enacted in 2012 to 121 in 2017 or five years after the law was enacted.  But we cannot, however, gloss over the fact that there was a slight increase in maternal deaths after the steady gains of the years immediately following the enactment of the RH law,” Lagman said during his keynote address  during a forum commemorating the 10th year anniversary of the passage of the RH law.

“In the most recent draft of the 2022 Population and Development Situation Analysis, our maternal mortality rate rose to 129.2 in 2020 and 131.1 in 2022. These [figures] illustrate in bold relief the consequences of the disruption and slowdown in much needed reproductive health services because of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Lagman added.

But even without factoring the COVID-19 pandemic, Lagman said that the government has been passive in terms of providing funds and data collection in relation to implementation of the RH law.

“Extra effort must be given and additional funding must be allocated to preventing maternal deaths,” Lagman said.

“The non-collection of the Philippine Statistics Office since 2011 of data related to maternal mortality compounds this problem even more. Accurate data is crucial in healthcare delivery and with correct information the government can allocate funds more precisely and expect better results,” he added.

Lagman also cited that the while country’s contraceptive prevalence rate rose from 50.7% in 2008 to 55.1% in 2013 (after the RH law was passed) and 58.3% by this year, such increases are not enough given that the use of modern methods of family planning only increased from 34% in 2007 to 37.6% in 2013 to 40.4% in 2017 and 41.8% in 2022.

“Much is still to be desired in the increase in contraceptive prevalence rate. Incidentally, it is really curious that our population growth rate has gone down to 1.9% or even lower than replacement levels but our contraceptive prevalence rate has not taken off at a similar rate. What accounts for the variance?” Lagman said.

“Some say it due to unreported abortions which may have increased. I urge the concerned government agencies to validate this alarming explanation,” Lagman added.

GMA News Online has sought comment from the Department of Health and will publish its reply as soon as it becomes available.

Last month, the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) lamented the low contraceptive usage among Filipino men, saying that according DOH data, only about 400,000 Filipino men currently use condoms.

POPCOM OIC Executive Director Lolito Tacardon said that Filipino men should share the responsibility and involvement in “maternal care, children's health, and nutrition.”

If men openly embrace contraceptive responsibility, he said, it would help ease “the burden of family planning and RPRH” on women.

POPCOM also urged men to consider non-scalpel vasectomy (NSV), said to be 99.8-percent effective.

“From a male standpoint, resorting to family planning does not take away anything biologically. Absolutely none of the methods—neither condoms nor NSV—affect virility, libido, and sexual drive,” Tacardon said.

Thriving

Lagman, however, said that the RH law has made strides in the last decade despite tough challenges.

“The 13 years that it took to pass the RH law ensured that for more than a decade women’s rights and welfare were incessantly covered by the media and were front and center in many discussions and debates from classrooms and boardrooms to local sari-sari stores and high-end dinner parties. It brought to light the plight of women, the importance of family planning and responsible parenthood, the dangers of unplanned pregnancies, and the sad reality of maternal and infant mortality in the country, among others,” Lagman said.

“In the last decade, the RH law has helped millions of Filipino women avoid pregnancy when they do not want or are not ready to be pregnant. When women are able to plan their pregnancies and space their children, they promote and protect their own health in the process. This in turn leads to not only crucial health rewards but also substantial economic and social benefits for women, their children, their communities, and society,” he added. — BM, GMA Integrated News