BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In order to alleviate the reproductive health status of mothers in the Philippines, there should be a better understanding of the factors influencing their compliance to reproductive health services. The study examined the association of topography with demographic and socioeconomic characteristics on the compliance of reproductive health services.

METHODOLOGY: This study analyzed survey data collected in 2017 among mothers in the rural community of Maasin, Iloilo, Philippines. The statistical tools Chi-square, T-test and logistic regression were used to determine the factors associated with the likelihood of mothers to comply with prenatal care, family planning and delivery care services.

RESULTS: There is no significant difference in the number of mothers who comply with prenatal care services and family planning services between lowland and highland barangays. However, mothers from the highland barangays are more likely to have non facility-based delivery (NFBD). Only educational attainment was found to be significantly associated for prenatal services. Only parity was significantly associated with compliance to family planning services. Age, parity, educational attainment and occupation were significantly associated with compliance to delivery care service. The odds of NFBD in the highland area is 2.44 (95% CI: 1.40 to 4.23) times higher as compared to the mothers residing in the lowland area. The odds of NFBD also increases by 7% (95% CI: 3% to 11%) per year increase in age.

CONCLUSION: There is a great need to restructure the delivery of reproductive health services to accommodate mothers from highland barangays who still opt for NFBD. Topography, demographic and socioeconomic factors should be considered in developing strategies and implementation of reproductive health care services in the Philippines. Furthermore, the researchers recommend to include in future studies other reproductive health services such as postnatal care in order to fully grasp the reproductive health in the country. 

Human ; Female ; Family Planning Services ; Prenatal Care ; Reproductive Health Services

The Philippines has recently passed a law on Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health after several decades of controversy and public debate. This article summarizes the elements of the Reproductive Health Law, as well as the arguments for and against its enactment.
Reproductive Health ; Family Planning Services ; Sex Education ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Traditionally, programs related to maternal health are regarded as purely a woman's domain. Nevertheless, the role of the male as the decision maker in the household gave way to the recognition of the male's role in maternal and reproductive health. This paper aimed to provide a review on male involvement strategies and their impact on maternal health based on related studies, discuss the strategies in the Philippine context and suggest interventions given the current state of the Philippine health care system. These strategies utilize the decision-making role of the male by positing itself on the reproductive, sexual and maternal health aspects encompassing important factors, such as birth spacing, first pregnancy, family planning, utilization of skilled birth attendants (SBAs), and delivery in health facilities, antenatal and postpartum care and nutrition. However, negative repercussions include stigmatization of single mothers and reinforcement of the notion of a man's control over a woman's body. Given the current state of the Philippine health care system, the suggested interventions try to veer away from it as much as possible. These include integration of the male involvement strategy into the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), coursing it through a public-private partnership (PPP) and non-government organizations (NGOs), involvement of educational institutions, strengthening of the health service delivery at the grassroots level, reinforcement of existing laws, and research on its institutionalization. With carefully-planned strategies that recognize existing gender norms and other sociocultural factors, male involvement in maternal health could be a possible catalyst in decreasing the Philippine maternal mortality rate (MMR).

 

Human ; Male ; Female ; Pregnancy ; Maternal Mortality ; Reproductive Health ; Birth Intervals ; Family Planning Services ; Public-private Sector Partnerships ; Stereotyping ; Maternal Health ; Mothers ; Postnatal Care ; Parturition ; Family Characteristics ; Gender Identity ; Delivery, Obstetric ; Decision Making ; Institutionalization ; Health Facilities

Evaluating the role of the health staffs and collaborators of the population and family planning program in the local level in the approach to women. Capacity of expansion of services and efficacy of these activities was carried out in urban commune of Tr¶ng Dµi, §ång Nai province and rural commune of Phôc LÔ, H¶i Phßng city. The results have shown that the collaborators of the population and family planning have successfully approached to women who were married, at reproductive ages. The collaborators self realized that it should strengthen their task and quality of services and knowledge, skill and practice
Reproductive Health Services ; Population

A study on 3472 subjects including service provider, state officials, militants and women in border communes of An Giang and Ha Tien provinces showed that: 81.5% subjects believe that there is a combination between Army medical service and Civil medical service on Reproductive health-care, and some combinations achieved good results are Information-Education and Communication, providing services and organizing management. The combination is appreciated good in many forms: providing reproductive healthcare/family planning services (46.5%), Information-Education and Communication, (63.9%), training and retraining, … The combination between Army and Civil medical service is necessary to solve difficulties in these areas such as lack of equipment (69.7%) and public health infrastructure insufficient (51.4%)
Delivery of Health Care ; Reproductive Health Services

365 women of Cham minority (among them 200 aged 15-49 with husband) in 3 communes were enrolled in the study. Results are: 31% gave birth to child at first in the age under 19; 32% of women aged 15-49 had married having 4-9 live children, 30.5% pregnant women had received no prenatal care, 49% have received 1-2 prenatal visits; 49.4% gave birth at home and 39% were not assisted by health staff. 29% were aware only IUD and only 1 other contraceptive method. The rate of women who used contraceptive method accounts for 62% (among them 39.5% used IUD, 13% used pill and condom)
Minority Groups ; Reproductive Medicine ; Reproduction ; Reproductive Health Services ;

OBJECTIVESTo increase the knowledge of STDs control and prevention among young couples by intervention, and to improve their reproductive health.

METHODSThe intervention plan was made and carried out on the basis of the information from baseline interview and Focus Group Discussions. The activities of the intervention included lectures given by experts, counseling service, delivering knowledge foldouts and knowledge competition. The final survey was conducted. The data of baseline and final survey were analyzed with SAS software.

RESULTSBefore intervention, young couples knowledge of STDs was similar between the experimental and the control group. After intervention, proportion of knowing numbers of STDs kinds in experiment group significantly was higher than that in control group(P < 0.01); The proportion of knowing harm of STDs and knowing to use consom to prevent STDs couples were significantly higher in experiment group than that in control group(P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSThe intervention activities including lectures and counseling services were positive and great sociological affects on family planning and reproductive health improvement for young couples which has one child.

Adolescent ; Communication ; Counseling ; Family Planning Services ; Female ; Health Education ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Male ; Reproductive Medicine ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases ; prevention & control

OBJECTIVES: With access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are able to consider childbearing to a greater extent than previously. In many cases, ART has transformed their intentions to have children. The present study aimed to assess changes in fertility intentions 12 months after ART initiation among HIV-positive women in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.METHODS: An institution-based follow-up study was conducted among 360 HIV-positive women in Addis Ababa. A logistic regression model was used to assess the influence of socio-demographic, reproductive health, and clinical characteristics on changes in the fertility intentions of women.RESULTS: Overall, 40.8% (147 of 360) of the women reported that they desired to have a child in the future at the baseline visit, while 48.3% (174 of 360) did so at the 12-month follow-up. The proportion of women who reported that they desired to have a child 12 months after ART initiation was higher among ART-initiated women (55.8%, 106 of 190) than ART-naïve women (40.0%, 68 of 170). The adjusted analysis indicated that a change in fertility intentions between baseline and the follow-up visit was significantly associated with ART use (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.47; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20 to 5.20) and marital status, with single (aOR, 5.33; 95% CI, 1.10 to 25.92) and married (aOR, 6.35; 95% CI, 1.44 to 27.99) women being more likely to report fertility intentions than divorced/widowed women.CONCLUSIONS: ART use was a significant predictor of change in fertility intentions between the baseline and follow-up visit, which suggests that additional efforts are necessary to integrate family planning and HIV services to address the safe fertility goals of women in the study area.
Child ; Ethiopia ; Family Planning Services ; Female ; Fertility ; Follow-Up Studies ; HIV ; Humans ; Intention ; Logistic Models ; Marital Status ; Odds Ratio ; Prospective Studies ; Reproductive Health

OBJECTIVES: With access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are able to consider childbearing to a greater extent than previously. In many cases, ART has transformed their intentions to have children. The present study aimed to assess changes in fertility intentions 12 months after ART initiation among HIV-positive women in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: An institution-based follow-up study was conducted among 360 HIV-positive women in Addis Ababa. A logistic regression model was used to assess the influence of socio-demographic, reproductive health, and clinical characteristics on changes in the fertility intentions of women. RESULTS: Overall, 40.8% (147 of 360) of the women reported that they desired to have a child in the future at the baseline visit, while 48.3% (174 of 360) did so at the 12-month follow-up. The proportion of women who reported that they desired to have a child 12 months after ART initiation was higher among ART-initiated women (55.8%, 106 of 190) than ART-naïve women (40.0%, 68 of 170). The adjusted analysis indicated that a change in fertility intentions between baseline and the follow-up visit was significantly associated with ART use (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.47; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20 to 5.20) and marital status, with single (aOR, 5.33; 95% CI, 1.10 to 25.92) and married (aOR, 6.35; 95% CI, 1.44 to 27.99) women being more likely to report fertility intentions than divorced/widowed women. CONCLUSIONS: ART use was a significant predictor of change in fertility intentions between the baseline and follow-up visit, which suggests that additional efforts are necessary to integrate family planning and HIV services to address the safe fertility goals of women in the study area.
Child ; Ethiopia* ; Family Planning Services ; Female ; Fertility* ; Follow-Up Studies* ; HIV ; Humans* ; Intention* ; Logistic Models ; Marital Status ; Odds Ratio ; Prospective Studies* ; Reproductive Health

New "law for maternal and child health" newly included the term "reproductive health". The purpose of including reproductive health in addition to the traditional maternal and child health, was to provide legal ground for providing comprehensive reproductive health services including programs for infertile couples. Reproductive health was defined as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes" at Cairo during International Conference on Population and Development, 1994. Reproductive health therefore implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so. Korean government programs restoring fertility should proceed with considering reproductive health of Korean population.
Child ; Child Health ; Family Characteristics ; Fertility ; Freedom ; Government Programs ; Humans ; Reproductive Health ; Reproductive Health Services ; Safe Sex