Neonatal Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Rate

Health Indicators

• Neonatal mortality rate in the Philippines: 14.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2022, declining from 25.1 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1973
• Maternal mortality rate in the Philippines: 78 women die per 100,000 live births, improving from 129 in 2000 to 78 in 2020; lifetime risk of dying from maternal causes is 1:100
• Net migration rate in the Philippines: -0.593 per 1,000 population in 2023, a 1.33% decline from 2022
• Physician density in the Philippines: one doctor or physician for approximately every 26,000 people in 2022
• Hospital density in the Philippines: about 13.5 hospital beds per 10,000 population within the National Capital Region as of April 2020
• Prevalence of obesity in the Philippines: 36.6% of Filipinos 20 years old and above are either overweight or obese based on WHO BMI cutoff points (FNRI, 2019)

Philippine Health Care Delivery System

• The system is a complex set of organizations interacting to provide an array of health services, formulated to serve as a guide in the systematic and organized flow of health services
• Composed of two sectors:
  • Public sector: consists of national and local government agencies providing health services, largely financed through a tax-based budgeting system
  • Private sector: largely market-oriented and where health care is paid through user fees at the point of service
• Levels of health care facilities:
  • Primary level: the first contact between the community and the other levels of health facilities, provided by center physicians, public health nurses, rural health workers, traditional healers, and others at the barangay health station and rural health units
  • Secondary level: care provided by physicians with basic health training, capable of performing minor surgery and simple laboratory examinations
  • Tertiary level: highly technological and sophisticated services offered by medical centers and large hospitals, for clients afflicted with diseases that seriously threaten their health and require highly technical and specialized knowledge, facilities, and personnel to treat effectively

Department of Health

• Vision: Filipinos are among the healthiest people in Southeast Asia by 2022, and Asia by 2040
• Mission: to guarantee equitable, sustainable, and quality health for all Filipinos, especially the poor, and to lead the quest for excellence in health
• Objectives:
  • Improve the general health status of the population
  • Reduce morbidity, mortality, disability, and complications from various diseases and disorders
  • Eliminate certain diseases as public health problems
  • Eradicate poliomyelitis
  • Promote healthy lifestyles and health and nutrition of families and special populations
• Strategies:
  • Increasing investments for primary health care
  • Development of national standards and health objectives for health
  • Assurance of the quality of health care
  • Support to the local health system development
  • Support for frontline health workers
• Offices:
  • 17 central offices
  • 16 Centers for Health Development located in various regions
  • 70 hospitals and 4 attached agencies
• Budget: approximately P241.1 billion for the DOH in 2024, significantly rising from the initially proposed P199.1 billion in the National Expenditure Program (NEP)

Health Sector Reform

• Primary strategies to achieve health goals:
  • Increasing investment for primary health care
  • Development of national standards and health objectives for health
  • Assurance of the quality of health care
  • Support to the local health system development
  • Support for frontline health workers

This quiz covers the neonatal mortality rate, which is the number of deaths under 28 days of age per 1,000 live births, and maternal mortality rate, which is the death of a woman during pregnancy or childbirth.