NSO data dissemination forum bares WV's family planning trends
Kalibo, Aklan --Did you know that in Western Visayas last year, almost half of married women 15-49 years old practiced family planning, and 35% of them use modern methods?
And of method mix, did you know that pill and ligation are the leading modern contraceptive methods used, but women who use no method at all also comprise 50.3%?
All these and more revealing family planning information were bared during the recently-held Data Dissemination Forum on the 2005 Family Planning Survey initiated by the National Statistics Office (NSO) provincial office here as one of its major culminating activity in celebration of National Statistics Month.
The presentation on Family Planning and Maternal and Child Health where these data came from was done by Engr. Norman R. Julag-ay, Regional Director of National Statistics Office 6.
The counterpart data of Aklan on Maternal and Child Health was presented by Marissa M. Carillo, Nurse II, Provincial Health Office.
Engr. Julag-ay bared that Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR), the proportion of currently married women who are using any method of family planning in 2005 was highest in Cagayan Valley with 58.4 % while the lowest is ARMM with 15.9% Western Visayas has 49.7%, slightly higher from the Philippines' CPR of 49.3.
The survey result also showed that both poor and rich women are willing to pay for various family planning methods and the percentage and median amounts they could afford are quite close.
For instance, 92% of poor women expressed their willingness to pay P30 for pills, while for their economically better counterpart, 95% also expressed willingness to pay the same amount. For injectable, a poor woman could pay P50 while the non-poor could afford to pay P75.00; and for ligation, the poor could spare P200.00 while the non-poor could pay P500.00
Among attendants at birth, hilots are the leading birth attendants in rural areas, while doctors lead in urban areas in the country, with 57.6% of birth deliveries occurring at home.
In Aklan for 2005 as reported by Ms. Carillo, most deliveries were attended by midwives with 3,334; trained hilots, 2,917; and doctors with 1,405. Others who attended birth deliveries were nurses and untrained persons. Most babies were delivered at home with 6,236; hospitals with 1,436 and others, 71.
From 2001 to 2005, Carillo revealed that 7 of the 10 leading cause of infant mortality are non-communicable disease like Prematurity, congenital anomaly, heart diseases, malnutrition, asphyxia, hydrocephalus and congenital debility.
Aklan's maternal mortality rate in 2005 was 39% per 100,000 LB). Carillo said the leading cause of maternal mortality were hypovolemic shock and rheumatic heart disease/pneumonia.
Based on the 2005 Aklan health indices, total live birth was placed at 7,743; total death at 2,771; total infant death at 118; still birth, 22; and maternal death, 3.
Aklan's ten leading causes of mortality include pneumonia, cancer of all forms, hypertension, heart disease, CVA, Pulmonary TB, COPD, Diabetes Mellitus, Accidents and Multi Organ Failure.
At the forum, Dr. Myrtle Pelayo, Provincial DOH Representative who delivered a message, stressed the importance of statistics as a tool in decision making on public health concerns. Ms. Consuelo L. Virgula, Regional Statistician, gave the background of the 2005 Family Planning Survey.
Selected heads and representatives of government agencies, the local media and the staff of NSO Aklan attended the forum. NSO-Aklan is headed by Provincial Statistics Officer Blas M. Solidum.
(PIA/VGVillanueva)