By the time Ami and I set out for New Delhi I knew a bit more: I knew the Society was founded by John
D. Rockefeller III in 1956 for the purpose of teaching Americans more about Asia. I guess it started
with a strong educational thrust, but much of this education was done through culture and arts. The
Society’s mission includes the statement “We seek to increase knowledge and enhance dialogue,
encourage creative expression, and generate new ideas across the fields of arts and culture, policy and
business, and education.”

And of course it grew with the times and spun off many subgroups, of which the Asia 21 Young Leaders
Initiative is but one. In Asia and in the Asia 21 Initiative one certainly doesn’t get the feel that it is
primarily to educate Americans – it seems to be an Asian organization with some American presence.
This year in New Delhi it seemed to me that most of the participants were Indian, Pakistani, or Afghan
– naturally, because of the location. But one of the initiatives that was discussed during the conference
was the possibility of bringing more Indian and Pakistani young leaders together to deal with some of
the tensions between these two countries.

The participants were truly outstanding people and the form the conference took was very interesting.
There were no lecture sessions but instead ideas thrown out that many could, and did, respond to:
How do you define leadership? What do you think makes a good leader? What kind of ‘aha!’ or
breakthrough moment led you to where you are now, as an innovative leader in whatever field? The
inequalities in most societies have worsened in recent years: do you think this trend will continue or will
there be a moment of reversal?

Much time was also given over to collaborative projects and this I found particularly interesting.
Participants were given the opportunity to submit an idea for something they wished to collaborate on
– energy projects, world book projects, scholarship schemes, and so on. These were presented with
posters and very short descriptions during the project fair, after which the other Summit Fellows moved
around the hall and signed up for what they were interested in contributing to. The next day the small
groups met and mapped out the projects on which they would work together over the next year or
so. So instead of just going home with nice memories, they leave with collaborative work cut out for
them! Ami sat with a solar energy group, I with a scholarship group. Another friend, Anya Tan Lim, who
pioneered the Anthill Galleries, a handicraft cooperative in Cebu, is now part of a weaving cooperative
which is Filipino, Pakistani, and Nepali!

Part of the Public Service Award involves this kind of collaboration and help from the current class of
Asia 21 Fellows, so we met with them – a lovely bunch – and talked about ways in which they might
assist us. Of course they all want to visit us in Palawan but they also have valuable experience to share
in strategic planning, grant writing, etc. One is Filipino – a doctor from Manila who is interested in both
nutrition and maternal health. They are part of the group that chose Roots of Health to receive the
Public Service Award, so they are already invested in the idea of helping us along. We are really looking
forward to working with them in the coming year to strengthen Roots of Health!

We believe that providing women and girls with information and access to family planning methods allows them to secure a sustainable future for themselves and their families. Watch this short video to see the impact of our efforts.

The Asia Society—the leading global organization working to strengthen relationships and promote understanding among the United States and Asia—selected Roots of Health based on its “outstanding contribution in reaching underprivileged social and economic groups by providing a meaningful service to a community and public in the region.”

“We are so honored to be the recipient of the Asia 21 Young Leaders Public Service Award,” said Amina Evangelista Swanepoel, Executive Director of Roots of Health.

Founded in 2009, Roots of Health works with impoverished families in and around Puerto Princesa City on the island of Palawan. The organization provides women and girls with reproductive health education, contraception, and support for healthy pregnancies. Roots of Health also operates nutritional support, childhood and teen education, and vertical garden programs in addition to reproductive health seminars at Palawan State University.

Although birth control and other reproductive health services are available in the Philippines, much of the country—including women and girls in communities served by Roots of Health—are too poor to access such care. As a result, more than half of the Philippines’ 3.4 million annual pregnancies are unplanned—largely the result of a lack of education.

The organization will receive a cash prize of $10,000 (U.S.) during ceremonies at the Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit in New Dehli, India, on November 18, 2011. The summit brings together 150 emerging leaders from across the Asia Pacific region and the United States to address vital issues affecting Asia and the world.

Swanepoel joins a multi-sectoral network of her peers, all under age 40, who will engage in discussions about “Worlds Apart Together: Shared Values for an Asia-Pacific Community.” The diversity of representation – from business, government, academia, media, civil society, and the arts – brings a wide range of perspectives to the discussions, which will explore issues such as developing a sustainable energy policy for Asia, whether corruption is hampering the region’s development, and whether food security should take precedence over civil rights, amongst others.

The Asia Society’s Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit is part of a larger initiative designed to help emerging leaders from across the region to develop common approaches to meet its shared challenges. “The Asia 21 young leaders represent the future of the Asia-Pacific region. The work that this incredible community of leaders is doing today and will do in the future is laying a strong foundation for regional collaboration for decades to come,” said Asia Society Executive Vice President Jamie Metzl.

The Asia 21 Summit is supported by founding international sponsor Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “Bank of America is committed to making a positive impact on the social and cultural fabric of the society that we live and work in. As such, we are particularly pleased that the Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit is being hosted in India this year,” said Kaku Nakhate, President and Country Head for India. “By partnering with global initiatives such as Asia 21, Bank of America can leverage its resources to encourage and support young leaders from across sectors, including social enterprise, non-profit, media, economic and arts, to enable a better and brighter future for business, politics, and civil society in Asia.”

Swanepoel, who has a background in human rights and trained in international affairs and public health, started Roots of Health with her mother, Susan Evangelista, in 2009. The organization fosters self-reliant women and girls in Palawan, Philippines by providing education focused on reproductive health, critical thinking and human rights, as well as access to clinical services.

Established by the Asia Society with support from Founding International Sponsor, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the Asia 21 Summit is the pre-eminent gathering of Asia’s most dynamic young leaders from the Asia-Pacific region, from every sector including business, government, media, culture and civil society. To date, the network counts more than 700 of the most accomplished young leaders in the Asia-Pacific among its members, including businessmen, documentary filmmakers, environmental activists, human rights advocates, members of parliament, military personnel, performance artists, and social entrepreneurs.

I stopped the car. All kinds of thoughts flashed through my mind: My wife and child were in the back seat. What was this argument about? Was this woman about to get raped? What would my father do? Could this be dangerous? What if it was a friend of mine? One of the women we work with?

I got out the car and walked towards the still struggling couple. The man was clearly in a rage. He glared at me when I asked him in Filipino what was going on. When he saw I was not going anywhere, he tried a different tack; he shouted multiple times, “It’s okay, she’s my asawa (wife)!”

Not wanting to get involved in a marital dispute, I stepped back. Then she shouted, “Hindi asawa ko! (He’s not my husband)”

I looked at their ring fingers. No rings. I pointed this out to him and told him it was simply not okay to beat up this woman. . At this point the woman managed to break free, and ran towards the car. Ami called to her to get in, but the man went to block her off. Evading him, she went around the car and started down the road, away from all of us. The man ran for his bike, so I quickly got back to the car, drove up to the woman and Ami and I offered her a ride.

Sobbing in the passenger seat she told us that he had hit her so hard her false tooth had fallen out. She said that they were not married, but had been going out for two years. She had just discovered that he was cheating on her with another woman and gotten upset. In return he had gotten angry at her and started slapping her. This was the second time he had started beating her. The first time, he had just hit her hands and arms, but this time had hit her face.

With the boyfriend following us on his motorbike, we drove to the police station, but once we had driven in to the compound the woman suddenly became very scared. She said that they had a one year old baby and she feared for his safety. She didn’t want to fill out a report. She said that we could take her home, because one of her brothers would be there. We tried calling the numbers she gave us but they were out of service.

As we drove along the unlit roads, the boyfriend behind us turned his headlight off. After a very tense drive, via unlit dirt roads we arrived at her family house. I stopped the car, and walked her through the gate until I could see her brother come out to meet her. All the while I was keeping one eye on the boyfriend. I saw him go towards the car and knock on the window to speak to Ami.

I rushed back out and as I neared him, he looked at me, put his hand behind his back and said “Thank you.”. I stepped backwards and raised my hands to show that I wasn’t carrying any weapons. Again he said, “Thank you.” and put his hand out, although he still looked angry and not very thankful. I shook his hand. He then went inside the gate towards the house of the girl’s family. I’m really not sure what he meant, because Filipinos generally are not familiar with sarcasm, but I find it hard to believe he was really thankful for us meddling in his private matters.

On the drive home, thoughts raced through my mind, as Ami and I talked about what had just happened and whether we did the right thing or not. One thought I keep coming back to was the way the man, kept repeating, “It’s okay, she’s my wife.” It was as if in his mind he felt entitled to treat his “wife” as he saw fit, because she was his property.

As I reflect on this, I think this is the real reason behind the opposition to the RH Bill that is currently being debated in the Senate. It’s not about contraception, population, education or religious beliefs. It’s about control and ownership. The men in power do not want to relinquish ownership and allow women to have more control over their reproductive and sexual lives. The time has come for the rest of us who want a just, equal society to stand up and say that we will no longer tolerate these archaic attitudes.

I was eating dinner with my husband and son at 8pm on a Friday night when I heard my phone beep. One of the mothers from Pulang Lupa (our first program site) had texted me to say that Helen, her neighbor, was ready to give birth. Whew – time to get busy! I stopped eating and started to text our nurses and Susan. After much texting, we ascertained that the intervals between Helen’s contractions were every half hour.

Daisy, one of our nurses, texted to say that she could attend the birth even though it was her birthday. Josh, our Head Nurse, was sleeping when she got the message, but after waking up and reading the message, she immediately said she would go. But we still didn’t have a ride and it is really hard to get public transportation at that time of night. Susan volunteered to drive us to Pulang Lupa but, I refused because I thought it would probably take a long time for Helen to deliver and didn’t want Susan to have to wait around. Luckily, our neighbor has a tricycle and he agreed to take us.

We picked up Daisy and Josh, and passed by the office for tour delivery kit. When we arrived at Helen’s house the nurses asked about the contractions and observed the intervals. It looked like the baby was still hours away, so we proceeded to eat Daisy’s cake and ice cream, to make sure we had enough energy. We were all excited, especially me. This was my first time to see an actual delivery! I really can’t explain my feelings at that time. I kept checking on Helen, advising her to walk around and do exercises to widen her cervix.

As it got later there was still no sign of the baby, so the three of us staff from ROH all lay down and fell asleep. We couldn’t really rest though. I kept standing up to check on Helen. She was amazing; she kept on smiling even though I could see that she was clearly in pain. She told me to go back to sleep, and that she would wake us up when she was ready. I also kept on updating Susan; she was excited too and would follow up at least every hour. This was only the second time that our nurses were going to deliver a baby, but our nurses are very well trained and were ready to do it.

Time passed, and Ate Helen’s labor still didn’t seem to progress. But then suddenly she said that her water had broken! I woke the nurses up and we went into action fast. The nurses prepared the bed, put down the plastic to make the birthing area sterile, and prepared the baby clothes, while I helped Helen walk back to her bed. When she lay down she said she was really in pain, so we got her into the most comfortable position possible and kept encouraging her to push.

At 1:41 in the morning, after two strong contractions, Helen pushed out a beautiful baby girl. Josh put the baby straight to Helen’s breast and after a little bit, cut the umbilical cord with a sterilized scalpel. We were all ecstatic and thanked Helen for cooperating with us and for doing very well. Five minutes later, the placenta was out. We sang happy birthday to the baby and in that moment, everyone was full of love. We had huge smiles on our face. It was a successful delivery, and we were so thrilled to have been a part of it.

By Alberto Romualdez, M.D.

Below is part of the report from an expert group convened recently by the Universal Health Care Study Group of the University of the Philippines Manila:

On Monday, 8 August 2011, 21 experts from diverse scientific fields including biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, obstetrics and gynecology, reproductive endocrinology and infertility, internal medicine, demography, and public health gathered to examine raging questions on pregnancy and contraception applying scientific and evidence-based analysis.

These are our conclusions:

1. Conception is not an exact scientific term. For some it means implantation; for others it is an event that occurs at some time after fertilization. No one at the meeting equates conception with fertilization.

2. Fertilization encompasses the process of penetration of the egg cell by the sperm cell and the combination of their genetic material to form the fertilized egg or the zygote. The process is estimated to take about 24 hours. At present, there is no accepted laboratory or clinical method of determining if and exactly when natural fertilization has taken place, but we accept that it has occurred after a pregnancy has been detected.

Natural losses occur all the time; 33%-50% of all fertilized eggs never implant without the woman doing or taking anything.

3. All contraceptives, including hormonal contraceptives and IUDs, have been demonstrated by laboratory and clinical studies, to act primarily prior to fertilization. Hormonal contraceptives prevent ovulation and make cervical mucus impenetrable to sperm. Medicated IUDs act like hormonal contraceptives. Copper T IUDs incapacitate sperm and prevent fertilization.

4. The thickening or thinning of the endometrium (inner lining of the uterus) associated with the use of hormonal contraceptives has not been demonstrated to exert contraceptive action, i.e. if ovulation happens and there is fertilization, the developing fertilized egg (blastocyst) will implant and result in a pregnancy (contraceptive failure). In fact, blastocysts have been shown to implant in inhospitable sites without an endometrium, such as in Fallopian tubes.

5. Pregnancy can be detected and established using currently available laboratory and clinical tests – e.g. blood and urine levels of HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin) and ultrasound – only after implantation of the blastocyst. While there are efforts to study chemical factors associated with fertilization, currently there is no test establishing if and when it occurs.

6. Abortion is the termination of an established pregnancy before fetal viability (the fetus’ ability to exist independently of the mother). Aside from the 50% of zygotes that are naturally unable to implant, an additional wastage of about 20% of all fertilized eggs occurs due to spontaneous abortions (miscarriages).

7. Abortifacient drugs have different chemical properties and actions from contraceptives. Abortifacients terminate an established pregnancy, while contraceptives prevent pregnancy by preventing fertilization.

8. Like all medical products and interventions, contraceptives must first be approved for safety and effectiveness by drug regulatory agencies. Like all approved drugs, contraceptives have “side effects” and adverse reactions, which warrant their use based on risk-benefit balance and the principles of Rational Drug Use. Risk-benefit balance also applies when doing nothing or not providing medicines, which can result in greater morbidities and death.

In the case of contraceptives, which are 50-year-old medicines, the Medical Eligibility Criteria (MEC) developed by the WHO is the comprehensive clinicians’ reference guiding the advisability of contraceptives for particular medical conditions.

9. The benefits of the rational use of contraceptives far outweigh the risks. The risk of dying from pregnancy and childbirth complications is high (1 to 2 per 1000 live births, repeated with every pregnancy). Compared to women nonsmokers aged below 35 who use contraceptives, the risk of dying from pregnancy and delivery complications is about 2,700 times higher.

10. The risk of cardiovascular complications from the appropriate use of hormonal contraceptives is low. While the risk for venous thrombo-embolism (blood clotting in the veins) among oral contraceptive users is increased, the risk of dying is low, 900 times lower than the risk of dying from pregnancy and childbirth complications. Heart attack and stroke are also rare in women of reproductive age and occur in women using hormonal contraceptives only in the presence of risk factors –like smoking, hypertension, and diabetes. The MEC will guide providers in handling patients with cardiovascular conditions.

11. The risk of breast cancer from the use of combined hormonal pills (exogenous estrogen or estrogen from external sources) is lower than the risk from prolonged exposure to endogenous estrogens (hormones naturally present in the body). Current users of oral contraceptives have a risk of 1.2 compared to 1.9 among women who had early menarche (first menstruation) and late menopause, and 3.0 among women who had their first child after age 35. The risk of breast cancer from oral contraceptive use also completely disappears after 10 years of discontinuing use.

12. Combined hormonal pills are known to have protective effects against ovarian, endometrial and colorectal cancer.

13. The safety and efficacy of contraceptives which passed the scientific scrutiny of the most stringent drug regulatory agencies, including the US FDA, warranted their inclusion in the WHO’s “core list” of Essential Medicines since 1977. The core list enumerates “minimum medicine needs for a basic health care system listing the most efficacious, safe and cost-effective medicines for priority conditions.”

14. Contraceptives are included in the Universal Health package of the Department of Health.

15. The use of contraceptives in family planning programs is known to reduce maternal mortality by 35% through the elimination of unintended pregnancy and unsafe induced abortions.

Article first appeared in Malaya

Can’t make it? Please consider making a donation to Roots of Health instead.
 

Got Roots of Health’s Educational Support Program (ESP) we have been teaching students varying in age from 2 years old to 11 years old. This is indeed a diverse set of students and thus they need different kinds of attention.  Some of them have experienced cultural discrimination at school, either because they come from poor communities or because they are ethnically Tagbanua.  Many however, just need extra attention and encouragement to start gaining the confidence and skills needed to succeed in life.

Most of the weekday-regular attendees of the sessions are young. Some of them still bring bottles of milk or easily cry when their mothers are out of sight. But the kids are very innocent and expressive: they often hug us, bring us flowers, and bring their works to us for praise. As teachers, we of course appreciate those simple things and give them encouragement.

Our curriculum may not look like much compared to a formal school curriculum, but we do cover basic literacy and numeracy and practical concepts in life. And we encourage and pay attention to every child.  We know that we are giving them confidence which will serve them well in regular school.

Just this March 2011, 11 of the regular attendees of our Educational Support Program enrolled in government pre-schools. All our students who took the exams for first grade passed with flying colors.  Most of the students will continue their studies in primary and then secondary education. As teachers, we are so proud to see our students in uniform. And every time they say “thank you”, that means a lot to us.

So a conducive environment for learning is not only about the absence of noise pollution, enough classroom facilities, adequate lighting and equipment, but also about the love and care of the teachers and their flexibility to make an atmosphere conducive to learning no matter the setting.