|
Education
has been said to be the escape hatch from poverty and the
lack of choices in one's life.
The 1994
International Conference on Population and Development in
Cairo recognized this, citing education as one of the enabling
conditions that can close the gender gap and empower women.
The other conditions are: economic self-reliance, access to
health care, and women's participation in decisions that affect
their lives.
The first
State of Philippine Population Report (SPPR)
affirmed that educated women are able to respond to opportunities,
challenge their traditional roles, and change their life circumstances.
The report, titled "Time to Act: Needs, Options, Decisions,"
was published by the Commission on Population (Popcom) with
assistance from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The SPPR
further stated that when a woman has her own income, she can
assert herself in the family and make reproductive decisions.
Economic independence offers her "more dignity, self-respect
and space to assert her will in reproductive and sexual matters."
But there
are some barriers that keep women from finding much-needed
family planning support, according to the SPPR. One is they
don't have access to information that will enable them to
recognize danger or warning signs that indicate pregnancy
problems such as high blood pressure and bleeding.
Limited
resources, including money, also prevent a woman, who may
be bound by cultural traditions, from seeking family planning
services.
Another
barrier is the lack of appropriate and accessible facilities
with quality services for maternal care. Also lacking, especially
in the rural areas, are basic equipment, drugs, supplies,
including blood for transfusion, and trained and caring providers.
Since most health facilities are located in the cities, patients
resort to self-medication or turn to traditional healers.
All these
point to the need to guarantee a woman skilled attendance
during childbirth. The SPPR pointed out that this is an effective
way to reduce maternal deaths. It noted, however, that skilled
professionals are few in many rural communities and even trained
traditional birth attendants (TBAs) or hilot are unable
to treat pregnancy complications.
Population
program planners have adopted a temporary strategy for places
like the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao where TBAs attend
to many deliveries. TBAs are trained adequately and equipped
with the capacity to refer complicated cases to doctors and
health facilities.
Another
potent intervention to save lives, the SPPR said, is improving
women's health, nutritional and social status. Managing fertility
also cuts down maternal deaths. Improving the quality and
level of education lessens high-risk pregnancies and their
complications.
With regard
to fertility management, the Alliance for Women's Health declared
that since women's bodies and their rights are the focus of
population programs, "women must be the major participant
in all phases of policy and program implementation. Women's
voices must be decisive in this regard."
There
is also a need to educate men as partners in reproductive
health, knowing that they exert much influence on decisions
regarding health and fertility choices of their spouses. In
the past, population programs had been narrowly women-focused.
The broader definition of reproductive health has included
male involvement.
The SPPR
noted though that men generally think that participating in
reproductive health concerns takes them away from income generation
or their responsibility of providing for their family's needs.
They do not see that reproductive health is one of those needs.
The report
also disclosed that women frequently cited these roles of
men in their female partner's health: help her in household
chores like cooking, washing clothes, cleaning; understanding
and respecting her roles, needs, rights and health; providing
for the family; and advising her on family planning, whether
to practice or discontinue, and other health practices.
Apart
from enlisting husbands, the SPPR stated that civil society
can also be harnessed to play a role in reproductive health
programs side by side with the government. Civil society encompasses
voluntary organizations, social and nongovernment organizations,
foundations, traditional social networks, and religious groups.
Women's
groups have also been working in areas where sometimes government
fears to tread. They have pushed issues such as advocacy for
HIV/AIDS prevention, stopping violence against women and children,
gender equity and empowerment, and adolescent health into
the mainstream.
By getting
the support of husbands, communities and other social partners,
the individual and household welfare can be advanced, the
SPPR said. It cited the Global Safe Motherhood Initiative,
a coalition of governments, country donors, NGOs and women
health advocates in 100 countries, which has come up with
strategies on the most effective and cost-efficient strategies
for improving maternal health and reducing maternal death.
These
strategies are:
—Address
the health, legal and political causes of poor maternal health;
—Correct
gender inequalities and discrimination so women can access
immediate and proper care;
—Ensure
the presence of a skilled professional at every birth; and
l Equalize access of pregnant women to quality, integrated
safe motherhood services like community education on safe
motherhood, antenatal care and counseling, care for obstetric
complications and emergencies, postpartum care, management
of abortion complications and post-abortion care, and family
planning information and services.
 top |
