The Joint Programme on Maternal and Neonatal Health (JPMNH) is a concerted effort of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) to improve provision of continuum of quality care and services from pre-pregnancy, antenatal, intra-partum, post-natal and neonatal care. Funded by the Australian Aid for International Development (AusAID), the programme will be spearheaded by the Department of Health (DOH) and implemented by selected local government units over a period of seven years.
The Philippines’ target under MDG 5, or the improvement of maternal health, is MMR of 52 by 2015, but given the slow rate of progress, the country is not to likely meet the target in the next six years unless drastic measures are undertaken. A series of surveys on neonatal mortality, including the 2006 FPS, also reveal that the decrease in neonatal mortality has flattened out, indicating that the attainment of MDG 4, or the reduction of child mortality, may also be at risk.
The joint programme intends to increase equitable access to and utilization of reproductive health, and maternal and newborn information, goods and services in priority areas, and enhance the effectiveness of national and sub-national support to local planning, implementation, and monitoring of the DOH’s Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and Nutrition strategy.
The JPMNH for MDG 5 and the neonatal component of MDG 4 will be executed in two phases for seven years, from 2009 to 2016. Phase 1 is the Transition Period (2009-2011). During this phase, the three UN agencies, in collaboration with DOH and with funding support from Australian Aid for International Development (AusAID), will implement the JPMNH strategy that will focus on improving province or city-wide health care delivery system on maternal and neonatal health through community participation, capacity enhancement and improving access in selected geographically-isolated and depressed areas. Phase 2 will be the Full Operationalization Period (2011-2016). During this latter phase, the JPMNH will scale-up assistance to local government units (LGUs) to increase the need for maternal and neonatal health, and reproductive health services and have these made available by the responsible agencies. It will also reinforce the technical partnership between international and national agencies with sub-national and local level institutions through Province/City-wide Investment Plans for Health (PIPH/CIPH).
During the Transition Period, the initial sites of the JPMNH are the provinces of Eastern Samar, Ifugao, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sarangani, and the urban poor areas of Tacloban, General Santos, Taguig, Navotas, Paranaque and Makati. The sites have been prioritized based on a set of criteria that include high poverty incidence, high number of deliveries at home by traditional birth attendants or hilot, high maternal and neonatal deaths, high teenage pregnancies, low use of contraceptives or modern family planning methods and government commitment.









