BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – The rise in neonatal, infant, and under-five mortality in Western Visayas has alarmed the Regional Development Council (RDC), prompting it to call for a broad strategy that improves healthcare services and addresses the root causes of the deaths.
Care and support from neonatal – the period immediately following birth, typically the first 28 days of life – to early childhood needs improvement, the council noted.
Neonatal, infant, and under-five mortality – still on the target of 7, 11, and 16 per 1,000 live births, respectively – are “seen to have increasing trends,” the council noted in its Western Regional Development Plan for 2023 – 2028.
“Rates of fully immunized children have fluctuating trends ranging from 66 to 71 percent. Incidence of low birth weight among newborns was at 6.96 percent in 2021 with all annual targets attained,” the council said.
The council said the region should work towards reversing the increasing trends in neonatal, infant, and under-five mortality and ensure the health and well-being of children in the community.
“The wide gap in the nutritionist-to-population ratio presents an alarming concern, which will be narrowed in the next six years through scholarship programs and incentivization,” the council noted.
A total of 3, 247 schools in the region implemented feeding programs, particularly for severely wasted and stunted learners surpassing the 2, 347 plan target.
Several day care children have been provided with supplementary feeding, reaching 193, 922 in 2021 compared with 205, 486 in 2020.
Although improvements in malnutrition among children five years of age were noted, the council said the targets for the planning period were not achieved.
Hence, the council said that health support systems needed to be improved to provide inclusive access to quality, equitable, and holistic healthcare for the region.
The council acknowledged that one of the basic foundations of good health and well-being is proper nutrition from the prenatal stage to old age.
“Education campaigns will be further promoted in primary and secondary schools at the community level to eliminate the problem of under-nutrition,” the council stressed.
In consonance with the Universal Health Care Act, the council said the creation of the National Human Resources for Health Master Plan 2020 – 2040 aims at addressing the inadequacy and inequitably ratio of human resources for health to population ratio to improve primary health care delivery and respond to human resource needs during health emergencies.
“Capacity development for human resources for health, community health workers, and healthcare administrative support arm will be intensified and provided with sufficient funding,” the council noted.
The council also emphasized that the life course approach will be continuously employed in providing integrated, inclusive, and holistic health services.
“A life course approach considers health-related processes that occur across an individual’s life span and development stages, from gestation to old age,” the council said.
School-based feeding programs will be sustained. Public-private sector collaboration will be expanded to provide much-needed laboratory services, screening, consultation services, medical imaging, and other selected medicines.
“Provision of support for mental health programs and medical assistance will be prioritized for the most vulnerable like the victim-survivors of gender-based violence and disasters and calamities, older persons, and those with comorbidities,” the council added.
Health referral systems will be improved through regular capacity development of the concerned personnel, proactive advocacy programs, and digitalization.
“A healthcare provider network shall be established and enhanced, with private sector collaboration for a more efficient care access and delivery,” the council said.
It added that investments for health-related research will be supported, sufficiently funded, and appropriately utilized.
“These researches will focus on the development of patented pharmaceutical products, epidemiology and the management of communicable diseases, and treatment of non-communicable diseases. The health research network will be provided with ample support,” the council added./PN
