medicines. This is especially true with households in rural areas classified as geographically  39 inaccessible and disadvantaged areas (GIDA).     Statstics show the gaps between the current state of women’s reproductive health and government  targets, specifically, the Millennium Development Goals 2015, as well as the interface between  health and socio-economic factors affecting the results.    ● The ratio of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births is 114 in 2015 -- far from the then MDG  40 target of 52 deaths.    ● In 2010, the Department of Health lists the following as the main causes of maternal  mortality: complications related to pregnancy occurring in the course of labor, delivery and  puerperium (38.4% of maternal deaths); hypertension complicating pregnancy, childbirth  and puerperium (35.2%); postpartum hemorrhage (17.3%); and pregnancy with abortive  41 outcome (9.1%)   42 ● Only 72.8 percent of births were attended by a skilled health professional in 2013; the  percentage of births attended by skilled health professionals is lower in rural areas (47.70%  compared to 77.50% in urban areas) and among the poorest segments of the population  43 (25.70% in the poorest quintile compared to 94.40% in the wealthiest quintile).   ● Adolescent birth rate (teenage childbirth) is 57 percent in 2013; the MDG target for the  same is 0 percent by 2015.   ● Based on the 2013 data of the PSA, use of contraceptive and other modern methods among  women of childbearing age (15-49 years old) is low at 55.10 percent. Contraceptive use  among youths (15-25 years old) is even lower with 32.3 percent of sexually active, unmarred  adolescent women saying they do not use any method (modern or traditional) to prevent  possible pregnancy.   ● Not all women go to health facilities for antenatal checkups. Per 2013 data, only 84.3 percent  of women who gave birth said that they have gone for checkups four times during  pregnancy, while 96.1 percent said they went only once   ● About 1 in 4 mothers or 24.8 percent of pregnant women are nutritionally at-risk with the  youngest mothers (those younger than 20 years old) most at risk. Other vulnerable groups  include pregnant mothers from rural areas, belonging to the poorest quintile and in their first  44 trimester.     39 See cases cited in IBON (2016, 08 March) “No home birthing policy: A burden to Filipino mothers.” Retrieved from  http://ibon.org/2016/03/no-home-birthing-policy-burden-to-filipino-mothers/​.   40 World Health Organization (n.d.) Maternal Mortality in 1995-2015: Philippines. Retrieved from  http://www.who.int/gho/maternal_health/countries/phl.pdf   41 from the Department of Health website (​http://www.doh.gov.ph/Statistics/Maternal-Deaths-By-Main-Cause​)   42 Data generated from the World Bank Database. Retrieved from  https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.STA.BRTC.ZS?end=2013&locations=PH&start=2013&view=bar   43 Data is based on the 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey as cited in UNICEF (n.d.) Maternal and  Newborn Health Country Profile: Philippines. Retrieved from  https://www.unicef.org/philippines/MNH_Philippines_Country_Profile.pdf   44 DOST-FNRI (2014). Juan Mission for a Well-Noursihed Nation: The 8Th National Nutrition Survey. Retrieved from  http://122.53.86.125/NNS/8thNNS.pdf​.   13 RH Situationer: Phlippines (November 2017)