Harija Idris, 32, was nine months pregnant and already in labour when her family fled their house in the village of Rio Hondo in Zamboanga City last Sept. 10 as gun fighting between government soldiers and the splinter group of the Moro National Liberation Front escalated.

Her family stayed on a boat off the coast of Barangay Cawa-Cawa, believing it was safer and easier for them to flee should the fighting get closer. At 5 a.m. on Sept. 11, she gave birth on the boat assisted by a hilot, or a traditional birth attendant, who was a relative.

“I was already in labour hours before so I asked the relative to stay with me on the boat. Good that it was a normal delivery and there were no complications,” Idris, now a mother of five, narrated. After the delivery, both mother and baby were taken to the health center in Barangay Sta. Maria for further medical care.

Idris was among the about 276 pregnant and breastfeeding women who came to the reproductive health medical mission organized by United Nations Population Fund and its humanitarian partners in Zamboanga City last Oct. 17. It was the first time she and her baby were getting medical check ups since she gave birth. Her baby, barely five weeks old, was coughing.

The armed conflict displaced more than 130,000 people at the height of the violence, including close to 4,000 pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers with babies aged zero to six months. In the Joaquin Enriquez Sports Complex, the biggest evacuation center, the number of evacuees peaked at 90,000 as more than 10,000 houses were burned in the affected villages.

The situation forced both private and public hospitals and clinics to close. The Zamboanga City Medical Center, which is located at the center of the gunbattles, evacuated its patients and set up a satellite hospital in the gymnasium of the Western Mindanao State University.

With the support of the Zamboanga City Health Office, UNFPA organized its humanitarian partners to reach out to pregnant and breastfeeding women through reproductive health medical missions where prenatal, postnatal and pediatric care services were provided by volunteer doctors and health workers. Family planning was made available for current and new users who want to avoid unplanned pregnancies during the emergency.

UNFPA also provided clinical delivery equipment to the CHO to ensure safe deliveries in evacuation camps. Dignity kits, which contain hygiene supplies, were likewise distributed to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.

At present, there are still more than 78,000 displaced population in Zamboanga City, majority of whom lost their homes to the fires. About 937 pregnant women and 625 breastfeeding mothers remained in evacuation centers and continue to require life-saving reproductive health services.

Residents of Rio Hondo, the village where Idris’ family lives, are still not allowed to return to their homes as the area is not yet cleared of elements that could pose threats to their lives.

After getting a medical check up for herself and her baby, Idris uttered a shy “thank you” and smiled as she walked back to the evacuation camp, carrying medicines for her and her baby and a dignity kit. She also brings with her new knowledge gained from the health information sessions about the importance of maternal and child health and family planning in an emergency.

Photo: Harija Idris watches her sleeping newborn as they wait for their medical check up during a reproductive health medical mission organized by UNFPA and its partners in Zamboanga City.