“It helped a lot that I learned from the health information sessions, especially because it was my first pregnancy. I didn’t have second thoughts delivering in a health facility.”

Thus uttered Corina Sontaco, a 20-year-old mother from the town of Cateel in Davao Oriental, who gave birth to a healthy baby boy last July 3 at a birthing facility in Barangay Alegria, which was among the villages hardest hit by typhoon Pablo (internationally known as Bopha) in December last year. She was the first mother to give birth at the health center after it was refurbished through the support of UNFPA.

Sontaco was two months pregnant when the disaster struck and caused massive destruction, mostly in the provinces of Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley. The typhoon did not spare health facilities and a lot of those affected included health workers. Health services, which are vital to support the survivors – including pregnant women like Sontaco – were crippled.

As humanitarian relief efforts were put in place, UNFPA assessed the situation and identified the population in need of reproductive health services. There were 8,356 pregnant women and 5,571 breastfeeding mothers. An estimated 107,000 women and girls of child-bearing age were affected and needed assistance.

Through the support of UNFPA, local government agencies and NGOs quickly organized reproductive health missions to reach out to pregnant and lactating women to prevent maternal and infant diseases and deaths.

The missions included pre-natal and post-natal check ups; information sessions on pregnancy, childbirth, family planning, sexually transmitted infections and adolescent reproductive health; and distribution of hygiene and dignity kits for women, girls, boys and families.

“It was during the health information sessions that the midwife made me appreciate the importance of pre-natal care. She also encouraged me to give birth at a health facility, which was very convenient for me because we didn’t have money for a hospital delivery,” Sontaco recalled.

Midwife Concordia Reyes, who delivered Sontaco’s baby, said UNFPA’s humanitarian support allowed local health workers to provide quality care to pregnant and post-partum women.

“Through the training, medical equipment and supplies that we (health service providers) received, we were able to improve pre-natal and post-natal services,” Reyes said. She added that because of the reproductive health information sessions they conducted, demand for maternal care in her village has improved and women’s appreciation of facility-based deliveries are better now than before the disaster happened.

A local health official also acknowledged the support provided by UNFPA, saying the interventions were very crucial because of the focus on pregnant women and mothers who have just given birth. Cases of complicated pregnancies decreased while family planning users increased.

Dr. Modesto Veroy, Cateel’s municipal health officer, said the trainings for midwives and the provision medical equipment and supplies for the birthing center have allowed their health workers to provide better services. They are also significant contributions to the province’s recovery and normalizing health services that were disrupted by the disaster.