Women Deliver Philippines

15-17 September 2010 • Crowne Plaza Hotel • Quezon City

KEYNOTE SPEECH

Dr. Enrique T. Ona, Secretary of the Department of Health

IMPROVING HEALTH CARE SERVICES DELIVERY FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN

United Nations Development Programme Resident Coordinator, Jacqueline Badcock; United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Director for Asia Pacific Nobuko Horibe; Ambassador Alistair MacDonald of the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines; Mr. Titon Mitra, Minister-Counselor for Development Cooperation of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID); House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., members of the United Nations Family, and diplomatic corps, representatives from the NGOs, civil society, other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, Good Afternoon!

I am happy to be part of the first conference of Women Deliver in the Philippines organized through the efforts of NGOs, the Department of Health and our international development partners. A number of you have participated and represented our country in the Women Deliver International conference. But today, we show the world how serious we are in delivering concrete actions for our women and children.

I share with you today this recognition of the importance of maternal health and the need to come up with emergency measures that will improve the health of our women and their children in honor of our commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

I fully agree that no woman should die giving life especially since we know now how to save them. The solutions do not really involve rocket science. Saving mother’s lives, however, require political commitment at the highest levels and the concerted action of everyone to make sure that we have a health system that is able to deliver care at the time of greatest need -- that is during childbirth -- which is the most decisive for their survival. Investing in women’s health through universal access to reproductive health, especially emergency obstetric care, is investing in our future and in our development. The benefits outweigh the costs no matter how we add them up.

Since time immemorial, our society has placed greater responsibilities and expectations on women. Women in the Philippines have always assumed important roles as the stronghold of families and the light and care giver for our children. At the same time, they have become a strong force in the growth of our economy as workers performing equal responsibilities with our men. They hold important positions in government as mayors, senators, congressmen and even Presidents! But with all that our women have contributed to our society, what do we give them in return?

Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to deliver for our women and heed the call to make their health a priority. Millennium Development Goal No. 5 specifically aims to cut maternal deaths by three quarters and achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015. We are now down to the homestretch and yet there remains a striking lack of progress in achieving this objective.

Statistics still point to around 10-11 mothers dying daily from pregnancy and childbirth related causes that are largely preventable. Given the slow pace of our response, we are unlikely to meet our target to reduce maternal mortality by 2015.

We cannot stand by and simply watch our mothers die needlessly. Nor is it acceptable that the lives of Filipino children are put at stake because as evidence has shown, the likelihood of children surviving up to their fifth birthday is very closely linked with having mothers that are alive and who are able to care for them.

Thus, with the MDGs for women and children as the centrepiece of health sector reforms in the last three years, the DOH has embarked on an ambitious strategy to make motherhood safe and prevent newborn and child deaths through what we call the continuum of health care that will make reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health services accessible and available for our women and children. The focus, of course, is providing emergency obstetric and neonatal care during childbirth because this approach offers the greatest opportunity for saving women and newborn lives with most deaths happening in this very critical period. The approach is simple: expectant mothers are tracked during their pregnancy and life-saving services are ensured in birthing facilities with skilled professional care. The Government has been acting on this initiative by assisting our provinces in improving their health facilities and the quality of emergency obstetric and newborn care. In 2009, close to 400 health facilities have been upgraded nationwide and these include those in the ARMM Region where we have the highest number or maternal and newborn deaths. For these efforts, the Philippines was recognized last year by the Countdown to 2015 Committee as one of the 10 countries worldwide with the boldest effort to reach MDG-5.

With the current thrust of the Aquino administration to attain Universal Health Care for all Filipinos in two to three years, the momentum picks up and the imperative to rapidly reduce maternal and neonatal deaths gains even more relevance. The President has instructed the Department of Health (DOH) to take stock of the present capacities, infrastructure and manpower needs of our localities to deliver basic health care to our citizens which include reproductive health services for our women and their families. With maternal and newborn deaths still among the highest in the Southeast Asian region, our grand challenge is to make life- saving health services immediately available for our women and children.

At present, The DOH is working closely with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in incorporating the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the next Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan for 2010 – 2016. By doing this, we shall ensure the disaggregation of plans and targets at the regional level to determine which regions and sectors are lagging behind in achieving the MDGs. In drafting the new Medium Term Plan, NEDA and the various agencies and stakeholders will focus on the regional aspects of development and how regional plans will interface with the national plan. This shall help us address problems in the disparity and inequity of distribution of health and other social services.

Last month, the President also submitted to Congress the proposed national budget for 2011. This amounts to P1.645 trillion which is 6.8% higher than the 2010 budget of P1.54 trillion. In line with the priorities of this administration to provide more for the poor and marginalized sectors, social services will get a hefty funding of P560.8 billion or 34.1% of the total national budget. With a bigger health budget allocation of Php 32 Billion this year, DOH can assist more localities so that more government health facilities are able to provide the mix of strategies that shall rapidly reduce maternal and neonatal mortality.

There is no question about the urgency to deliver the best care for our women and that the time to deliver is now. We already have the tools, the knowledge and the means to save them. The question is not whether we have the resources to invest in their health but whether we can afford to have a world without women and homes without mothers knowing that there are social costs that are incalculable.

So, today, I leave you with the challenge of giving our women and children the opportunity and the choice. A healthy future for them has long been an unmet promise for our nation. Let us finally deliver on that promise. Let us chart a bolder course toward improved maternal, child and reproductive health.

Thank you and Good afternoon!

Steering Committee (in alphabetical order):

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