Published March 6, 2021, 4:46 PM
DAVAO CITY – Three hundred health workers from the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) in Maguindanao received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac of China last Friday.
Health Minister Dr. Amirel Usman is the first medical frontliner in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to get a dose of the Sinovac vaccine at the Integrated Provincial Hospital Office (IPHO) in Maguindanao. (Photo courtesy of the Bangsamoro Information Office / MANILA BULLETIN)
“Today marks the beginning of that long been wished for event that a vaccine against coronavirus disease gets into our arms,” IPHO Maguindanao Provincial Health Officer Dr. Elizabeth Samama said in a statement released by the Bangsamoro government.
A pregnant woman at an evacuation centre in Datu Piang, Mindanao. Early marriage often results in early pregnancy, say health experts
According to the 2008 National Health and Demographic Survey, the maternal mortality rate in ARMM is twice as high as the national average of 162 per 100,000 live births.
ARMM has a high unmet need for family planning, with the lowest contraceptive prevalence rate for modern methods at 9.9 percent and traditional methods at 5.2 percent.
On average, six out of 10 births take place at home under the supervision of a traditional birth attendant, but in ARMM, that figure is nine out of 10 births, the survey states.