While attending a recent Maternal Health Information Session, I was distracted by, “Waka Waka, Eh Eh!” the recent Football World Cup anthem by Shakira. I turned to see the Governor of Palawan, Abraham Kahlil Mitra hurriedly putting his phone on silent. He was sitting across the table from me. I felt glad that an important man was attending the event to learn about the issues facing the province.

Palawan is best-known as “The Last Frontier”. An island with many beautiful tourist attractions, from the Underground River to the Tabon Caves. The province is rich in natural resources, fresh air and friendly people. What most tourists don’t realize is that Palawan is facing a BIG problem. A problem that the rest of our country is also facing now. As the population is getting bigger, the services the people access remains the same. In Palawan, in many places the services are not there to begin with. Many areas lack medical facilities,  clinics or health workers. Palawan has the highest maternal morbidity and mortality rates in the region. In Puerto Princesa, the most urbanized city in Palawan, the city government can only afford a few months supply of contraception for barangay health centers. Poor women in rural areas are the least likely to get the medical services they need.

<The event was organized by the Private Sector Mobilization for Family Health (PRISM) project of USAID.  PRISM aims to build lasting public – private partnerships that would assure Filipinos the availability of and access to quality modern family planning and maternal and child health products and services. The group has been conducting a six month research study of Palawan. Like Roots of Health they also want to decrease maternal and child mortality in Palawan. Here’s what they discovered about the province:

The estimated number of women of reproductive age is 165, 491

Only 52% of these women are currently employed.

The estimated number of modern family planning users is 34,200 (roughly 20%)

The majority of these women are using pills.

The study also found that women in the province are getting pregnant earlier and not visiting  health workers to have pre natal check ups.

After the presentation, the governor addressed the audience. He admitted that he has been one of the people opposing the Reproductive Health Bill, but now that he has seen the data, he is reconsidering his position. This is good news for Palawan, because if the RH Bill passes, women in Palawan, especially poor, underserved women, will have access to free modern family planning methods. Having the opportunity to plan pregnancies will lead to girls staying in school and having employment opportunities, instead of dropping out when they have an unexpected pregnancy, and then being unemployed. Having the ability to use modern methods of contraception will also lead to fewer unwanted pregnancies, reduced back-street abortions and most of all less mothers dying!