HIV-Aids, maternal death still pressing concerns in Phillipines a hub of HIV

THE Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV-Aids), which now has recorded 25 percent increase as compared to last year, and maternal deaths continue to be the major health concerns that have to be solved, said the Department of Health (DOH).
"The Philippines is among the nine countries which has 25 percent increase in HIV cases, and we have one case per 1-hour and 15-minutes. In Davao City alone, we recorded 1,021 HIV-Aids cases. Indeed, HIV-Aids is a problem that we have to face," health medical officer Gracita T. Bergua.
Bergua said the Davao region has 1,362 HIV-Aids cases since 1984. Of the total cases, 74 are females and 1,288 are males. In addition to this, there are already 34 HIV-Aids cases recorded from January this year.
Raquel D. Montejo, health municipal officer, and in-charge of the infant and under-5 mortality program, said their health officers recorded 11.8 percent infant mortality rate for every 1,000 live births and 12.3 percent under-5 mortality rate in Davao Region in 2014.In addition to this, there were 144 maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 live births recorded in Davao Region last year.
"More than 10 mothers died everyday due to pregnancy and early delivery due to related reasons, while 30 children were left by their mothers every day," said health medical officer Lady Jedfeliz C. Molleno.
According to the health department, the common cause for the maternal deaths includes the following:
* Complications related to pregnancy occurring in the course of labor, delivery and puerperium.
* Hypertension complicating pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium.
* Postpartum (period of time following childbirth) hemorrhage
* Pregnancy with abortive outcome
With this, the DOH in Davao held Tuesday the High Impact Five (HI-5) Summit at Apo View Hotel in Davao City to discuss the latest strategies in health and address the prevailing health problems and issues in affected areas of the country.
The Universal Health Care High Impact Five (UHC-HI-5) is a strategy that aims to produce the greatest improvements in health outcomes and the highest impact on the priority, vulnerable population, with focus on five critical UHC interventions prioritizing the poor, providing tangible outputs that are felt within a breakthrough period of 15 months through synchronized nationwide implementation of activities.
DOH Assistant Secretary Paulyn Jean B. Rosell-Ubial said the programs under the HI-5 are geared toward reduction of maternal and infant deaths, improved under-5 children, halt the HIV-Aids and establishment of the functional service delivery network in all areas in the country.