The Philippines’ health statistics, particularly in the Visayas, show high unmet needs for quality MNCHN/FP services, especially among the vulnerable poor and geographically isolated families who comprise nearly one third of the total households.
The magnitude of TB problem in the Philippines has kept the country among the 22 high-burden TB countries, ranking 9th. The National TB Prevalence Survey in 2007 showed that 2.1 percent of new TB cases and 13 percent of re-treatment cases are drug-resistant (DR) tuberculosis, of which 3.9 percent are multiple drug resistant (MDR).
The United States Agency for International Development’s Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines, Inc. (CMSU) project supports the implementation of the MNCHN Strategy, the Government of the Philippines’ strategy to achieve its 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce maternal and under-5 mortality.
The United States Agency for International Development’s Communication for Health Advancement through Networking and Governance Enhancement (CHANGE) is a five-year project that addresses the need for strategic and sustainable communication interventions that will generate increased demand for FP/MNCHN and TB services in the Philippines, and ultimately, contribute to the reduction of maternal and child deaths, TB prevalence, and increase in contraceptive prevalence rate.
The issuance of critical policies for FP/MNCHN and TB implementation under the Government of the Philippines’ Universal Health Care or Kalusugan Pangkalahatan and the significant increases in budgets of the Department of Health (DOH) have yet to significantly improve overall health outcomes. This can be attributed to difficulties in implementing interventions at scale.
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