Highest number of live births registered in Bukidnon
A total of 93,986live births were registered atthe Local Civil Registry Offices throughout Northern Mindanao in 2017. Among the provinces and highly urbanized cities in the region, Bukidnon recorded the highest number of live births at 29,182 or 31.05 percent of the total live births while the lowest was recorded in the island province of Camiguin at 1,500 or 1.60 percent of the total live births. On the average, approximately 258 babies were born daily or 11 babies born each hour in Northern Mindanao during the reference year.
Notably, the highly urbanized City of Cagayan de Oro ranked the second highest number of live births registered. Presence of hospitals in the city which has better birthing facilities could somehow explain why there are mothers who preferred to deliver their child at the hospitals in Cagayan de Oro City.
More male babies born than female babies
Of the total number of registered live births in 2017, more male babies (49,222 or 52.37%) wereborn than female babies (44,764 or 47.63%) resulting to a sex ratio of 110 male babies born for every 100 female babies in Northern Mindanao as shown in Figure 2 above. This sex ratio showing higher number of male babies being born compared to female babies is true to all provinces and highly urbanized cities in the region as shown in Table 1 below, wherein Misamis Occidental recorded the highestratio and Camiguin recorded the lowest ratio at 112 and 105 male babies for every 100 female babies, respectively.
More than ninety percent of birth deliveries were attended by health professionals
Of the total number of live births in Northern Mindanao for 2017, 91.3 percent or 85,805 births were attended by health professionals which may either be a physician, a midwife or a nurse. This indicates thatmost mothers preferred to be attended by health professionals during the delivery of their child rather than those traditional birth attendants. Additionally, this is an indicator that the “No Home-Birthing Policy” or the policy prohibiting deliveries assisted by traditional birth attendants has been successfully implemented.
More than half of the babies were born to unwed mothers
As shown in Table 2, more than half of the total registered live births in Northern Mindanao for the year 2017 (53.6%) were born out of wedlock. Among the 17 regions in the country, Northern Mindanao was one of the regions which recorded more than fifty percent of the children being born to unwedded parents alongside Region VIII (65.4%), NCR (64.9%), Region IV-A (58.2%), Region XI (57.4%), Region VII (56.7%), Region V (55.7%),Region XIII (55.6%), Region III (52.7%) and Region I (50.6%).
(SGD.) JANITH C. AVES, CE, DM
Officer-in-Charge
TECHNICAL NOTES:
Live Birth - is the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of the pregnancy, which after such separation, breaths or shows any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, ordefinite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached; each product of such a birth is considered liveborn.
Birth Attendant – is a health care professional who provides basic and emergency health care services to women and their newborn during pregnancy, childbirth and the post-partum period.
Place of Occurrence – refers to the place where the event occurs.
Sex Ratio –is the ratio of males to females in the population (normalized to 100). It is the number of males per 100 females in the population.
Illegitimate–children who are born to unmarried parents or born out of wedlock or conceived and born outside a valid marriage, unless otherwise provided in the Family Code of the Philippines.
