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Women in Transition: Patterns of Prenatal Care in Semi-rural Philippines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Josefina F. Reynes
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Extract

It is a biological fact that the health of mother and child are interdependent. The care, attention and affection given by the mother to her young offspring are of major significance in the psychobiological development of the infant and indeed, in subsequent personality development. Suggestions have been made that special attention to a pregnant woman brings double health benefits: to her as an adult member of society, and to the outcome of her pregnancy. Although childbearing is a natural process, women all over the world do not possess full faith in the ability and self-sufficiency of the human body to deliver safely a healthy baby. Pregnancy has been described as a unique and ambiguous state for women: it is not a usual condition nor a medically pathological state, so it is especially problematic. Several influences are known to affect women's pregnancy outcome. Factors relating to the mother—such as age, parity (or the number of births she has had), her age at marriage, socio-economic status such as education, occupation and income, and past obstetric history, are likely to be interdependent in their influence on pregnancy outcome. However, complications of pregnancy and delivery brought about by the interdependence of these factors can be prevented by careful antenatal care. Presumably, this type of care is closely related with modern medical science, thus only available in clinics. Consequently, the prevention of the many complications of pregnancy rests more with seeking careful antenatal care from the clinic than with any other factors.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , September 1985 , pp. 292 - 303
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1985

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References

The author would like to thank her advisers Prof. Calvin Goldscheider and Prof. Al Wessen, both of Brown University, who helped her with this study.

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