P2B for reproductive health remains untapped
MANILA, Philippines — Close to P2 billion allocated for last year’s reproductive health programs in the country remained untapped, a health official said Wednesday.
(Advocates of reproductive health gathered on Wednesday in Club Filipino for a forum on “Reproductive Health: A Priority Agenda in 2010.”)
Of the P2-billion allocated by Congress for the program in 2008, only P180 million has so far been released to local communities for commodities and trainings, said Dr. Yolanda Oliveros, director of the National Center for Disease Prevention Control of the Department of Health.
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She [Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros] said Malacanang and the DoH should see to it that funds are released on time.
Moreover, the P180 million was spent for “administrative cost” and not for the actual implementation of the program, said Iloilo Representative Janet Garin, another advocate of reproductive health.
”They used that for administrative cost, for example, seminars of the DoH staff or of local government personnel but we don’t really know if it’s reproductive health they would implement,” she said in a phone interview.
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What is Rep. Garin talking about? Of course it's NOT "reproductive health". Let's hear what Aurora province governor Angara-Castillo has to say.
Angara-Castillo said that because of the provincial reproductive health code she implemented in her province, its population growth dropped from 2.39 percent to 1.07 percent.
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See? "Reproductive Health" EQUALS "Population Control". As if "we don't really know". If you don't like that, the alternative definition would be "Reduce Maternal Deaths", if you want to believe UNPF.
Dr. Suneeta Mukherjee, country representative of the United Nations Population Fund, said having a reproductive health policy in place would reduce maternal deaths in the country. She said that recent statistics reveal that 11 mothers die in the Philippines every day due to pregnancy and childbirth complications.
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So there. Just in case Manny Amador is not listening.
She said the population growth impacts on everything—health, food, energy supplies, housing, and environment.
”It’s a question of mathematics,” Mukherjee added, citing that P100 would be better divided among two or three children than among eight kids.
A "question of mathematics", how very simple. Now, just where did she get the figure P100 to divide? And why not, say P1000? Apparently, Mukherjee's simple math does not factor in productivity. Nor the economy's growth vis-a-vis distribution of income. Nor massive corruption. Nor declining population growth rates. Nor the sorry state of education...Mukherjee needs to question her question of mathematics.
P2B RH funds remain untapped?
Sure, but the real problem is --- brains remain untapped.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Brains remain untapped
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4 comments:
It just goes to show that these UN mouthpieces will continue to parrot the propaganda line about contraceptives as the answer to maternal deaths despite evidence from the UN itself showing otherwise. Why do we have these unthinking meddlers here and why are people still listening to them?
To reiterate, childbirth is NOT a disease that causes maternal deaths. The real causes of maternal deaths are poor obstetric health care facilities and a lack of trained personnel. The contraceptives peddled by the RH Bill (HB 5043) won't solve those problems.
We need children to continue the human race. We don't need contraceptives taking funds away from basic health care.
Willy hit the nail right on the head. brains aren't being used at the radcial UN organizations, nor at the PLCPD, RHAN, and (not surprisingly) at the House of Representatives.
Did you notice that the person from the DOH who issued a statement in this article is the head of the Nat'l Center for Disease Prevention Control? I found that weird and amusing. Why disease prevention? If it's disease prevention they're concerned about, why are they focusing on contraceptives? What's the disease? Pregnancy? Childbirth?
Maybe they're also pushing condoms based on false claims that these things will stop the transmission of venereal diseases. Sigh. I don't know what is difficult to understand about the concept of the false sense of security. And haven't researches showing that HIV is small enough to go through the pores of condoms been explained enough?
I agree with Manny -- they're barking up the wrong tree. What are needed are improved obstetric health care facilities, better trained medical personnel. Also, better post-natal care for mothers and their babies, especially among poor communities.
the brains aren't untapped...they are working in Saudi or the UK.
As for dead moms and kids: You start with prenatal care.
WHen I worked in Africa, every village had a "pill lady" but no clean water until we got a grant for wells, and no WHO Rehydration fluid for kids with diarrhea until we got money from Oxfam to pay for village health workers.
First, get midwives and decent well child cinics. Then get jobs.
Dr. B,
ha! if they use pills often enough, then there would be no need for pre/post-natal care, and eventually, no children to treat. Brilliant!?!
Great point, thanks.
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