Behind the open door stood nine-year-old Michelle Esconde. Most kids her age are often seen holding a doll, but not Michelle. Her tiny arms were tightly wrapped around the small frame of her one-year-old brother.
Their mother Julia died last year, just five minutes after giving birth to the eighth child in the family. Julia was 39 years old.
Since then, the responsibility of taking care of the baby has been passed on to Michelle. For a year now, she has missed out on playing with other kids and going to school – rights that duly belong to a child like her.
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The Philippines is among the 68 countries that contribute to 97 per cent of maternal and children’s deaths worldwide, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in its State of the World’s Children 2009 report.
Eleven Filipino pregnant women die each day, or some 4,500 each year, due to complications in childbirth. These are caused by hemorrhage, sepsis, hypertension and abortive outcomes, which are preventable. An overwhelming majority, 70 percent of the deaths, occur at childbirth or within a day after delivery.
