Regional Differences in Maternal Mortality in the Philippines

This research was launched in order to determine the differences in the access to health services and rate of maternal mortality between the 17 regions of the Philippines over a period of almost 40 years. Two different publications – the Philippine Health Statistics (PHS) and the Philippine Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) – were used as sources of secondary data. The study found that regions in Luzon, especially the National Capital Region, generally have lower rates of maternal mortality than the regions in Visayas and Mindanao. This may be because of a large disparity between the women residing in Luzon, particularly in NCR, and those residing in Visayas and Mindanao in their access to health care services. However, it must be noted that even regions in Luzon, except for NCR, generally suffer low rates of access to health facilities during childbirth and access to skilled delivery care. This leads to the observation that there is a large disparity in development in the Philippines in terms of health care, with much of the development being centralized in NCR while the rest of the 16 regions of the Philippines are left behind. The study also found that there is a large difference in access to health care services among the women in the country, with the highly educated and wealthy enjoying greater access to health care services than the poor and uneducated. Recommendations for further research on the matter are provided.

Keywords – Inequality, Maternal Mortality, Philippines, Healthcare