Normin’s silent heroes

The month of July witnessed several events of significant contributions to the development of the nation, such as the Blood Donor’s Month which was focused  on the theme “Be A Hero, Give Blood” and the Nutrition Month which revolved the theme “Pagkain ng Gulay Ugaliin, Araw-araw Itong Ihain.”

Such celebrations proved the relevance of the saying “Homo homini Deus est.” This supreme practical maxim fits very well the purpose driven life, because the purpose of life is not primarily “to be happy - -but to matter, to be productive to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all.” And this, indeed, defines the lives of our blood donors who unselfishly donate blood so that others may have another chance to live.

Statistically speaking, “Five to ten minutes of your time plus 350 ml. of your blood equals one life save.” And this equation could be supported by some statistical data which would tell us that in this time of the year last year some 9,352 bags or units of blood had been served to 6,076 patients in Misamis Oriental. These blood donors are NorMin’s silent heroes, and to them we give our salute and respect.

On the other hand, our mothers who have endlessly labored “carrying the babies inside their wombs for nine months, in their arms for three years, and in their hearts until the day they die,” are also silent heroes who deserve the right to the information, care and support to protect their health and wellbeing before, during and after pregnancy, as well as that of their newborn babies well into childhood.

While we acknowledge the nutritional value of vegetables to one’s health, we should not forget the value of breastfeeding. It may be recalled that last year’s Nutrition Month centered on the theme “Isulong ang Breastfeeding Tsek-Tama, Sapat, Eklsusibo.”

The aim was a very noble one, because it encouraged correct breastfeeding practices nationwide. It taught mothers the significance of skin-to-skin contact of mother and baby immediately after birth and breastfeeding within the first hour of life.

It sought to encourage mothers that a small amount of breast milk is sufficient for baby during the first week, and that with frequent feeding the supply will eventually increase.

More important was the aspect on exclusive feeding which means giving only breast milk to baby during the first six months. However, the finding of the 2011 Family Health Survey reveals that only 27 percent of all mothers practice exclusive breastfeeding in the Philippines.

Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended up to 6 months of age, with continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods up to two years of age or beyond.

Statistics show that for exclusive breastfeeding, CAR tops in the entire Philippines with 49.2 percent, followed by Region 2 with 40.8 percent.

Region 10 has only 25.2 percent, while Region 4A registered the lowest with only 18.8 percent. These figures reflect an imperative need for a stronger advocacy to inform the mothers the importance of breastfeeding and to make them understand that a baby who is being breastfed is most likely “to avoid the risk of malnutrition, infection and early grave.”

It is worth mentioning that a research on breastfeeding duration and academic achievement at 10 years which used a cohort of 2900 women who were enrolled at 18 weeks’ gestation with 2868 live-born children showed that ten-year-old children who were predominantly breastfed for 6 months or longer in infancy had higher academic scores than children who were breastfed for less than 6 months (Oddy et al, 2010)

These are but few statistics, but the reverberation of their echoing implications speak louder than words can convey.

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THE DREAM, THE CHALLENGE, THE PROMISING DEVELOPMENT

THE President's 3rd SONA has brought joy and hope to the Filipino people especially when the President delivered these inspiring lines. "But what we know about our people, and what we had proven time and again to the world was this: Nothing is impossible to a united Filipino nation. It was change we dreamed of, and change we achieved; the benefits of change are now par for the course."

Indeed, we are glad to know the very promising transformation from being the "sick man of Asia to one who now beams with vitality with a growing GDP by 6.4 percent which is said to be much higher than projected. It was a great relief to hear comments that "Once, we were the debtors; now, we are the creditors.”

How will this apply to Northern Mindanao?

Checking the revenue performance statistics of Northern Mindanao during the first quarter of 2012, NEDA-10 reported P1.43 billion tax collections and P 1.36 billion customs collections, which are higher by 26 and 1 8 percent, respectively as compared with the same period last year.

However, behind the rosy portrait, the SONA presented a bleak picture which needs to be arrested. To borrow  the words of the President, "Challenges remain. The high maternal mortality ratio in our country continues to alarm us."

This is about the increasing maternal deaths from 162 to 221 per 100,000 live births from 2006-2010 as revealed during the launch of the National Statistics  Office 2011 Family Helath Survey last June 19, 2012.

According to the keynote speech of Health Secretary Enrique Ona: The cruelest irony is that women are dying  as they are giving life .” Such statement is loaded and its implications remind us of the vulnerabilities that confront our women population .

Putting the statistics simply would give us a picture of estimated 11 faceless women dying each day from highly preventable complications arising from pregnancy and childbirth.

This would of course lead us to a blatant contrast which shows that today more Filipino women  die in childbirth than in the early 1990’s.

Sec. Ona in his speech stressed that “we need real time health statistics that can guide us in making crucial decisions as we reform our healthcare system.” And true enough, these statistics have generated promising development.

The SONA unveiled some facts that based on data from DSWD: 1,672,977 mothers now get regular checkups; 1,672,814 children have been vaccinated against diarrhea, polio, measles, and various other diseases.

With this promising development, there is no doubt that we can reverse the trend and give each and every mother the promise of a healthy life.

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Pill remains the top choice of contraception in Normin

Pill remains the top choice of contraception in Normin
             
            Population problems have been man’s concern since ancient time. Matters concerning the need to stimulate or retard population growth had received various opinions from statesmen and thinkers whose concerns ranged from political to social and economic considerations until modern population theory emerged in the current time. Thus, some economists had said that the use of contraceptives in modern times had made it possible to check population growth effectively making the ‘preventive checks’ and ‘positive checks’ introduced by Malthus irrelevant and obsolete.

            Speaking of contraceptives, the results of the 2011 Family Health Survey (FHS) conducted by the National Statistics Office revealed a decrease of the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) for married women in the Philippines from 50.7 percent in 2008 to 48.9 in 2011. Contraceptive prevalence rate is the proportion of women of reproductive age who are using (or whose partner is using) a contraceptive method at a given point in time. It is an indicator of health, population, development and women’s empowerment. It also serves as a proxy measure of access to reproductive health services that are essential for meeting many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)s, especially the child mortality, maternal health, and gender related goals.

            The survey indicated that while use of any method decreased by 1.8 percentage points, use of modern method increased by 2.9 percentage points, that is, from 34 percent in 2008 to 36.9 percent in 2011. Traditional method, on the other hand, decreased significantly from 16.7 percent to 12 percent or a drop of 4.7 percentage points.

            Among the modern methods, pill registered the most common method with 19.8 percent displaying an increase of 4.1 percentage points over the results of the 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) of 15.7 percent. The pill remains the most preferred method of contraception for both poor and non-poor women. It is used by 18.7 percent of poor women and 20.3 percent of non-poor women. Female sterilization follows with 8.6 percent. On the contrary, among the traditional method, withdrawal ranks first with 8.2 percent and rhythm or periodic abstinence comes second with only 3.7 percent.

            According to NSO Administrator Carmelita N. Ericta, the result of the 2011 FHS shows a significant shift in sources of pills from the public sector to the private sector. The public sector provided most recent supply of pills to on 32.0 percent of poor women in 2011 compared to 55.4 percent in 2006, as revealed by the Family Planning Survey conducted in that year. In contrast, the private sector provided supply of pills to 64.0 percent of poor women in 2011 compared to 63.8 percent in 2006.

Does Northern Mindanao follow the same trend?

Apparently, pill remains the top choice of contraception in Northern Mindanao with 22.3 percent and is even higher that the national figure. The results even showed an increase of 3.9 percentage points from 18.4 percent in 2008 NDHS. Pill might be very popular as a contraceptive method because of its availability and affordable price. Although male condom is also cheap and readily available in pharmacies, it still registered a low percentage of only 1.9 percent. In Northern Mindanao, the CPR posted at 53.9 percent in 2011 indicating an increase of 0.7 percentage points from 53.2 percent in 2008.

            On the contrary, currently married women in Northern Mindanao who were not using contraception registered at 46.1 percent. Among these non users, 56.4 percent cited that the main reason for non use was fertility – related and some 24.9 percent of women were opposed to family planning or prohibited by their religion while 14.1 percent reported lack of knowledge anent contraceptive methods. Moreover, one out of five women (19.2 percent) in Northern Mindanao was not using any contraceptive method because of wanting to have children.

            Such statistics speak of the trend in Northern Mindanao, and this shows that population growth rate cannot be viewed in isolation, because there are many relevant factors to consider.

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