MANILA, 28 May 2008 -- The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) joins women from all over the world in the observance of the International Day of Action for Women's Health.
With the international theme "Stop Conflict Being Waged Upon Women's Bodies," the NCRFW recognizes that women's health is a fundamental human right that must be promoted and protected.
The Philippine Government is a signatory to various international treaties and conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination on Women (CEDAW), the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) and their succeeding conferences which affirm that health is a basic right of women.
CEDAW General Recommendation No. 24 urges State Parties to "implement a comprehensive national strategy to promote women's health throughout their lifespan. This will include interventions aimed at both the prevention and treatment of diseases and conditions affecting women, as well as responding to violence against women, and will ensure universal access for all women to a full range of high-quality and affordable health care, including sexual and reproductive health services."
Meeting the health needs of women means considering them at all stages of their life cycle. Women's health is both a national and an individual concern that has a significant impact on child survival, family welfare, and the health and productivity of future generations.
Moreover, the 1987 Philippine Constitution affirms several basic rights of individuals and couples related to access to health services and information and several obligations of the State to the promotion of well-being of its constituents. Women and men have the right to information and access to comprehensive, safe, high quality and affordable health services, including those related to reproductive health.
The NCRFW strongly believes that responsible parenthood, including family planning is a key to promoting the Filipino Family's total development. Recognizing the Filipino Family as a basic autonomous social institution, couples should be left with the choice of deciding the number and spacing of their children in accordance with their personal convictions and religious beliefs. As such, couples have the right to be fully informed, by properly trained personnel, of the full range of reproductive health services, including modern methods of planning the number and spacing of children as well as the likely benefits and potential adverse effects of these alternatives.
About 206 Filipino women die from maternal-related causes out of every 100,000 live births, according to the 2006 Family Planning Survey conducted by the National Statistics Office. These instances endanger women's lives and health violating women's basic right to life and health.
As the Philippine government's machinery for the advancement of women, the NCRFW upholds and promotes the four pillars of the present government's population management policy as enunciated in President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's statement of support to the International Conference on Population and Development in January 2005 such as the responsible parenthood, informed choice, birth spacing and respect for life.
As a signatory to UN CEDAW, the Philippine government is duty-bound to implement the provisions of this international treaty specifically the UN CEDAW Committee's Concluding Comments, which among others, urges the government to enhance women's access to health care, including reproductive health services, address high maternal mortality rates, high fertility rates, and inadequate family planning services.
Women's health is important not only because it affects the health of the next generation through its impact on children, but also because women are half of the country's human resource. Studies have shown that while women live longer than men, they are more sickly and disabled than men throughout the life cycle.
The NCRFW believes that reproductive health could only be fully achieved if reproductive rights are recognized and enjoyed by everyone regardless of race and creed. Reproductive right is the basic human right of women/couples to decide freely and responsively on the number, spacing and timing of their children, based on their own choice and free from coercion, discrimination and violence.
The NCRFW is currently advocating for a national legislation that addresses the reproductive health needs of women and other population development issues. Among those issues that NCRFW would want to see in the legal framework is the promotion of gender equality and women's rights as essential to the fulfillment of reproductive health rights.
For inquiries, please contact: Ms. Louie Alonso Belmonte
NCRFW, Information Officer....
Contact: 735-8509; 0916-4150871