DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: MORTALITY

(A Group Discussion)

Over the past few decades in the Philippines, the issue of health has become increasingly
relevant. To improve its health system, the country has initiated multiple rounds of reforms. In
1991, the Philippines implemented decentralized health governance, with social health coverage
introduced in 2010. The Philippines has achieved substantial increases in life expectancy and
immunization coverage as a consequence of its focus on the health sector and general socio-
economic growth.

Health care service, according to Furnell (2017), is a general concept that refers to a
system that requires the maintenance and enhancement of medical facilities to meet people's
medical demands. The ever-growing requirements of individuals particularly patients, have been
widely recognized and cannot be undermined. Widespread attempts have been made to enhance
the provision of health care in terms of affordability and resource accessibility. Infrastructure and
human capital are being maldistributed around and within areas, which are concentrated in Metro
Manila and other major cities. The Philippines is a big exporter of healthcare professionals, but it
finds it difficult to ensure sufficient national availability.

In cooperation with the Philippine Statistics Authority and Local Health Units, the data
article entitled Department of Health: Mortality reported in the Philippine Health Statistics (PHS),
the annual publication of the Department of Health (DOH) compiles statistics on critical health
events, elaborates and interprets the mortality rate of the Philippines in 2016 in terms of age
group, particular regions, by the attendance of medical practitioners, diseases, and by sex.

The linked article presents its numerical data using graphs. And each graph was
interpreted by the department concerned as follows:

First, graph 1 reveals that among the elderly, 70 years of age and above, the highest
deaths have occurred. More than five people died in the Philippines in 2013 for every 1,000
inhabitants. This is equivalent to 531,280 recorded all-cause and all-age deaths. 57 percent or
304,516 of these deaths were males and 43 percent or 226,764 were females. Therefore,
men also have a higher

1
mortality rates than women. Second, graph 2 shows that with 75,743 or 14.3 percent of total
deaths, CALABARZON had the highest date rate (by location), followed by NCR with 71,050
deaths or 13.4 percent and Central Luzon with 60,409 deaths or 11.4 percent. Deaths in these
three regions accounted for almost 40 percent (39.1%) of the total deaths. The third graph shows
across the entire area at the time of death, with only NCR indicating a higher number of deaths
attended by a medical practitioner. Fourthly, it explains that with 118,740 deaths, Diseases of the
Heart are leading the way. A 22.3 percent share of total deaths has been registered. Heart
disease has been the number one cause of death for many years now. The fifth graph shows the
ten leading causes of death, eight of which were dominated by men. In the case of Malignant
Neoplasms and Diabetes Mellitus, female deaths were higher than male deaths. Graph six
illustrates that the top three leading causes of infant mortality were pneumonia (3,146; 14.3%);
newborn bacterial sepsis (2,731; 12.4%); and respiratory failure of newborn (2,347; 10.7%).
Whereas the graph 8 indicates that professional medical practitioners such as doctors, nurses,
and midwives have engaged in almost all (99.1 percent) of fetal deaths. A hilot or unlicensed
midwife attended the remainder or 0.9 percent. And the last graph shows that the ratio of fetal
deaths to live births was high for mothers in age groups 40-44 (8.2) and 45-49 years (6.3).

After reading and evaluating the data using a variety of graphs, we gain insights and
reflection about it. First, this article reveals that the most of our fellow Filipinos are in the
marginalized sector of society. As a result, the data shows that most of the Filipinos death were
not attended by a healthcare provider or professional because of the high cost of the healthcare
service here in our country. Hence, we need to go deeper to know what the origin of this
phenomenon. The government must strengthen and take a step to improve and establish of
education and its system. It is the only key, before other aspects, to get out of the soil to be
poor. Through education, every student will be kept informed about the need to strive hard to be
competitive, to have a good job of supporting their needs such as the attainment of higher
healthcare services. Secondly, we discovered that death is uncontrollable. It is our shared
destiny. Any age, any illness, and any incident, as the bible says, the Lord will call you in the
time allotted to you. When the time you are not prepared, when the time you are not mindful.
 The relevant lessons that can be derived from the suggestions or studies of the authors/
researchers are focused on the statistical findings and data collections that generates the final
annual mortality rate factor by factor. It is necessary to know every aspect of mortality in our
country so that our government and responsible department and agencies can establish and
formulate strategies and recommendations to address the issue of findings. In the same way,
we as an individual may also draw a significant insight into this study. We have the privilege to
be aware of and inform about the different leading diseases in our country that cause death, so
that we can mitigate ourselves to those causes.

In conclusion, we conclude that the mortality rate of the Philippines often affects the
social and physical aspects but does not affect the emotional and psychological aspects of the
people of the Philippines. The central idea of this article was to know the causes, as a citizen, of
death in our countries using statistics and data to clarify the results in detail.

References
Furnell, A. (2017, February 24). The Importance Of Healthcare In the Society. Retrieved from
Good Health & Development: http://www.unimed.org.au/the-importance-of-healthcare-in-
the- society/
SZ, M. M. (2011). Mortality, Mordibity and and Health in Developed Societies. Retrieved from
Scandinavian Journal of Public Health.:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5787574/