Access to RH Services Better in Yolanda Areas, Needs to be Sustained

Progress in restoring access to reproductive health services following the massive destruction of facilities caused by Typhoon Yolanda has been remarkable but efforts should be sustained as communities move toward full recovery.

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, acknowledged the strong commitment and support of the Department of Health and other humanitarian partners in the efforts to quickly restore health services in the Yolanda-affected areas.

The DOH said 432 health facilities were damaged by the typhoon and some P1.4 billion will be needed to complete the repair and reconstruction. One year after Yolanda, 40 per cent of these facilities have been rehabilitated and are back in operations.

UNFPA underscored the prioritization of barangay health stations and rural health units that also serve as birthing centers in communities. About 70 per cent of health facilities damaged by the typhoon were BHSs, while 25 per cent were RHUs. These facilities play crucial role in the delivery of health services because they are most accessible to communities.

“Following the typhoon, we have seen pregnant women giving birth on the wayside and in unsanitary conditions. In the province of Capiz alone, the provincial health office reported two maternal deaths after the typhoon,” said UNFPA Philippines Country Representative Klaus Beck. Both cases were due to postpartum hemorrhage compounded by limited access to emergency obstetric care as the typhoon damaged health facilities.

Mr. Beck said these cases clearly demonstrate the urgency of restoring life-saving reproductive health services immediately after a disaster.

Approximately 250,000 pregnant women were affected by the typhoon and about 1,000 childbirths were expected daily, with 150 to experience potentially life-threatening complications.

With the help of local partners, UNFPA conducted 206 reproductive health medical missions in 22 priority areas in the provinces of Leyte, Eastern Samar, Capiz and Iloilo. These outreach missions provided maternal care to 23,028 pregnant women and mothers who have just given birth in the six months prior to the typhoon.

With birthing centers severely damaged by the typhoon and major hospitals having limited capacity to treat obstetric complications, UNFPA set up an Emergency Maternity Unit in Palo, Leyte to complement local capacities to provide safe and clean deliveries. The EMU is basically a maternity hospital built from containers and was used mainly for Caesarean section deliveries.

UNFPA also reached out to close to 20,000 adolescents and youth with information sessions that focused on building their life skills amidst the tragedy. In many humanitarian situations, the disruption in young people’s normal way of life could lead them to high-risk behaviours such as alcoholism, drugs and unsafe sexual behaviours that could result to unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

Mr. Beck emphasized the need to sustain and strengthen programmes for adolescent reproductive health. “As we transition to the recovery phase of the Yolanda tragedy, we need to continue nurturing our young people so they can mature into responsible adults,” he said.

To support restoration of health services, reproductive health kits ranging from medical equipment to medicines and supplies were donated to hospitals and community health centers. Fifteen van ambulances and 26 tricycle ambulances have been handed over to local government units and health facilities to support their emergency obstetric referral system. With funding from the Government of Japan, UNFPA is reconstructing 19 birthing centers in 15 municipalities affected by Yolanda.

UNFPA has mobilized some P322 million for the restoration of reproductive health services through the support of donors that include the Governments of Australia, Japan, United Kingdom, Canada, Kuwait and Hungary, private sector donors Virgin Unite and Procter & Gamble Philippines, and the UN Central Emergency Relief Fund.