Child survival
rates in Metro Manila improved by 50% says Save the Children's State
of the World's Mothers report
Philippines ranked 105 out
of 179th in best and toughest places to be a mom
By Save the Children
May 6, 2015
MANILA – Metro Manila
was among top cities in the world to cut child mortality rates among
urban poor, according to 2015 State of the World’s Mothers global
index published by Save the Children.
The annual global mother’s
index report reveals that in the last 20 years, child survival rates
among the urban poor in Metro Manila, have improved in comparison to
other developing countries. Between 1993 and 2008, the child mortality
rate went from 81 to 38 deaths per 1,000 lives deaths. Over this
period of time, the poorest urban children went from being 4 times as
likely to die to being twice as likely to die compared to their
wealthy peers. The capital region has also achieved about 4% reduction
in under-5 mortality per year since 1998.
Metro Manila’s success comes
from improved quality of services, public-private partnerships,
structural reforms and health care innovations introduced to the local
government units and sustained involvement of civil society in
maternal and child health care programs.
Despite progress, the global
study cited the National Statistics Office (NSO data) which suggests
that 1 in 5 infants who died in 2010 were in the capital region. While
health facilities and obstetric care are physically more accessible in
the capital region, the report revealed that many poor people still
could not afford associated health costs.
As progress in child
survival continues to be localized and in some areas stalls, Save the
Children Philippines is working alongside the government and families
to ensure that the good work continues and children, particularly
those in Manila are given every opportunity to fulfill their
potential.
In this year’s country
ranking of the State of the World’s Mothers report, which ranks the
wellbeing of mothers and children, Philippines maintains its place
from last year at number 105 out of 179 countries, behind Vietnam,
Thailand and Malaysia in South East Asia. The country is just ahead of
Timor-Leste and Indonesia.
Ned Olney, Country Director
of Save the Children, says: “The progress we have seen in the past two
decades shows that closing the child survival gap between rich and the
poor is attainable. But cities need to keep up with the breakneck
growth as thousands of mothers and children in cities still have
limited access to essential health services, food and clean water they
need to survive and stay healthy. Save the Children is calling for
strict implementation of maternal, child and newborn health care
programs, including infant and young child feeding and increased local
government investment to trainings for frontline health workers”.
“If Philippines is going to
complete the task of ending preventable child and maternal deaths, we
have to continue to find better ways of getting health care to urban
populations, regardless of income”, he added.