Moms don’t Always Know What is Best

Maternal or Women’s Care is the 5^th Milennium Development Goals of the United Nations. It aims to lower mortality rate and unwanted preganancies.

According to United nations Develoment Programme, in the Philippines induce abortion is the foruth leading cause of maternal death. Also, out of 3 million pregnancies over half of births occurred at home and one-third of them were assisted by traditional birth attendants (TBAs).

In Barangay Lumangan, survey shows that majority of the respondents in Lumanggan are practicing modern maternal care methods but rarely participate in seminars and forums regarding family planning. On the other hand, there are still few who adhere to the traditional means like “hilot”. Age could be considered as an intervening factor since those who prefer “hilot” are the ones who conceived at the year 1970’s.

During the pregnancy stage, 6 out of 9 respondents had their regular check-up at their health center and nearest hospital while the remaining 3 still believe in “hilot”. This could also be attributed to lack of financial resources and the presence of “hilot” and midwives at their barangay.

The survey also shows that majority of the respondenst which is 6 out of 9 gave birth to their children in their home with the aid of “hilot” and midwives. The remaining 3 gave birth in the hospital.

When it comes to family planning, there have been no case of abortion occurred during their pregnancy and the use of contraceptive is not prevalent. This is due to the fact that 5 out of 9 did not participate in any type of forums or seminars conducted by the government or any volunteer group. The remaining 4 attended the seminar about family planning conducted by volunteer groups of UPV and other institutions.

Women in Lumanggan should participate in the activities by the government intended to widen their knowledge about modern maternal care. This will be beneficial on their part since they will learn new ideas and practices given the right methods and proper supervision. They should not rely solely on traditional birth attendants since there are risks involved before and after pregnancy.

We do not want CHANGE!

Everything seemed to be acting against the rule of nature. The weather and the climate are interchanging and becoming unpredictable. Who says rain could not fall during summer or only snow flakes could fall from the sky? One may think it is “cool” but what one is experiencing now is no longer amusing rather, it is deadly.

Climate change has been an issue so long forgotten. It was only brought to life again, when different catastrophes caused by nature happened. These “natural disasters” devastated the lives of the many, and awaken everybody’s call to save the earth.

The government is allocating large amount of money in order to maintain the natural cycle and the balance of the environment.  Projects regarding renewable energy source, alternative ways of preventing global warming are the top priorities of every country or states. Experiments and researches were conducted in order to cope with the changes the planet undergoes. Artificial ways of making rain, energy savers, and waste minimization were developed to protect man from the negative effects of their own work.

Despite all these efforts, one can say that the earth and its people are still in great danger. The continuous move for a greener planet is being overpowered by the uncontrollably phenomena.

Just like in the Philippines, many provinces have been declared to be in the state of calamity because of El Niňo. This only shows that climate change does not choose the country to be victimized. A third world country will be shown no mercy by this deadly curse created by man.

I f the present situation continues, the planet earth will become a big stadium where only the strong and powerful country survives. The competitions for survival will be stiff and tough. Man will continue to exhaust every means to keep up with every change but will only be disappointed with the realization, that things could have been avoided earlier.