Text by: Angelou C. Mendoza
Photo by: Erlyn May U. Pareja | Canva Pro

A Conference on Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Handbook will be organized by the Center for Health Development CALABARZON, the International Committee on the MCH handbook, and the University of the Philippines Manila on May 9 to 10, 2024, to promote the development and utilization of the MCH handbook in the country.

Titled “Safe Beginnings: 1st Regional Conference on Maternal and Child Health (MCH) in Calabarzon in partnership with 14th International Conference on the MCH Handbook,” this event is poised to serve as a platform for deepening discussions on the implementation, maximum utilization, and future advancement of the MCH handbook.

The MCH Handbook’s objective is to facilitate and support optimum prenatal and postnatal care for women, children, and their families by promoting healthy pregnancy and ensuring healthy infants develop into fully developed adults. The upcoming conference will introduce the MCH Handbook program to the public for further discussion on its proper implementation and use, and identify additional attainable improvements of the program.

The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Handbook serves as a health education guide toolkit to parents as it contains relevant information on safe pregnancy, delivery, child and mother health, and also as a health record showing the milestones of the child’s development and tracker of the activities achieved with responsible parenthood. Each handbook produced for different countries has different content, color, pictures, and illustrations customized in reference to the country’s culture, meanwhile there were very similar concepts in various countries.

The International Symposium for MCH Handbook initiatives first began in 1998 in Tokyo, Japan. Since then, the MCH Handbook has been cascaded to more than 30 countries including USA, Indonesia, the Netherlands, and Kenya through the support of the International Committee on the MCH Handbook. The organization is led by Prof. Yasuhide Nakamura, Professor Emeritus in Osaka University, Japan. Dr. Calvin S. de los Reyes, Associate Professor of the Department of Behavioral Sciences of the College of Arts of Sciences, UP Manila serves as one of the Board Members of the International Committee. Dr. de los Reyes is co-organizing “Safe Beginnings” with CHD CALABARZON.

Dr. Mario R. Festin, Founding Director of the Institute of Reproductive Health (IRH) National Institutes of Health (NIH), pointed out the importance of providing services and information to address needs on maternal care and other family planning concerns including screening for sexually transmitted infections and planning family services. Dr. Festin is also one of the speakers on the second day of the Safe Beginnings upcoming conference.

“The Institute of Reproductive Health was established to address a gap in the mandate of NIH which deals directly with the health of mothers, women, and indirectly of men, and also to mainly look at the policies, research and information related to healthy pregnancies, healthy reproduction, healthy sexual lives, and also to certain extent about the rights related to reproductive health,” Dr. Festin said following a meeting with Dr. Anneke Kesler, board member of the Committee and Editor-in-Chief of the Growth Guide (MCH Handbook in the Netherlands) at UP Manila last February 15, 2024.

Dr. Festin also revealed that the IRH is aiming to compile a research on the above mentioned topics and utilize the results of the studies to develop information materials that could assist in policy making. “We are trying to work now on developing programs that will address the problems such as teenage pregnancies and poor postnatal care. We also want to look at the issue of violence against women,” he said.

In his discussion about the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), Dr. Festin explained the need to ensure healthy childhood during the first 1,000 days of the infant. He shared that the relevance of ensuring the woman’s health before pregnancy directly affects healthy pregnancy, delivery, and the infant. Thus, an infant’s health is influenced by both the time during pregnancy and after delivery or childbirth. In addition, there are various factors which should be monitored and considered to ensure healthy pregnancy.

Kesler was received by Chancellor Michael L. Tee, Dr. Festin and College of Arts and Sciences Associate Professor Calvin S. de los Reyes, who is also the co-chair of the conference.