As part of the United Nations’ continuing humanitarian assistance to the victims of tropical storm Ondoy, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) conducts a series of medical missions in Metro Manila with particular focus on reproductive health services.

On October 8, nearly 500 pregnant women have enlisted for the medical mission conducted at the Bagong Cainta Municipal Hospital in the province of Rizal. It was the second leg of the medical mission. The UNFPA is working with midwives from the Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines (IMAP), as well as doctors and volunteers from the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP) for this effort.

UNFPA Representative Suneeta Mukherjee said the agency deployed rapid health assessment teams immediately following Ondoy’s destruction to identify gaps in health service delivery in evacuation centers in Metro Manila. She said reproductive health services emerged as one of the health issues that needed immediate attention.

“There were a lot of pregnant and post-partum women in the evacuation centers who do not have access for prenatal, natal and postnatal care, and we cannot allow the situation to remain that way,” Ms. Mukherjee explained.

“When emergencies strike, life can change in an instant,” she added, noting that in times of disasters, pregnancy-related deaths increase as reproductive health services, including prenatal care, assisted delivery, and emergency obstetric care often become unavailable. Family planning services are also disrupted, exposing women to unwanted and unplanned pregnancies.

A number of childbirths have been reported in various evacuation centers in Metro Manila, mostly without assistance from doctors or skilled health personnel. During UNFPA’s first RH medical mission in Taguig City early this week, a 30-year-old woman gave birth to her second child at the evacuation center all by herself. She said the umbilical cord was cut by a hilot with an unsterilized pair of scissors, putting both her and her newborn in danger for infection.

Ms. Mukherjee said such situation can be prevented through proper and immediate health care intervention specially focused on reproductive health. UNFPA works in this area with partners such as IMAP and FPOP to ensure that the unique needs of women are factored into the planning of all humanitarian assistance.

More than 1,000 families sought temporary shelter in four big public schools in Cainta at the height of evacuation for victims of flooding brought by Ondoy. The municipality has a total of 26 health centers servicing its seven barangays, but only three were left functional in the aftermath of the storm. The rest have been devastated, leaving most of the medical equipment and supplies destroyed.

Delivery of public health services are thus expected to be disrupted until the health centers are rehabilitated.

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