CEDAW/C/PHI/5-6 showed improving trends. Female life expectancy rose from 70.1 years in 1995 to 72.5 years in 2003. The comparative figures for the males are 64.8 and 66.2 years. Maternal mortality rate fell from 209 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 180 in 1995 and 172 in 1998.8 Mortality rates among infants and children dropped dramatically, with infant mortality and child mortality rates generally lower among girls than boys. However, health efforts were continuously challenged by rising cost of health services and drugs, low coverage of health insurance, high incidence of disease, increased prevalence of malnutrition and a rapidly growing population. Large variations in health status persisted across population groups, income classes and geographic areas. Drug addiction and violence against women are major concerns. 78. As discussed under Article 12, the program to help couples achieve their fertility goals and prepare individuals to become responsible parents in the future failed to bridge the gap between desired and actual family size. The program was beset by such problems as high unmet needs, low contraceptive use, limited male participation in reproductive health; increasing teen-age pregnancy and lack of sustained mechanisms for rural health and family planning services (MTPDP 2001-2004). From 1997 to 2000, more than 47 percent of women aged 15-49 used family planning methods (NSO 2003e). This increased in the following years, but remained low (49.5 percent in 2001 and 48.8 percent in 2002). Birth control pills continued to be the leading family planning method, used by 14.1 percent in 2001 to 15.3 percent in 2002 (NSO 2003f, 2003g). Education 79. The Asian financial crisis and the El Niño phenomenon in 1997 sharply limited the access of poor families to education, particularly at the tertiary level where the government operates only 19 percent of tertiary schools, compared to 60 percent and 91 percent of schools at the secondary and elementary levels, respectively. Only 53 percent of high school graduates in 1997-1998 were able to go to college, and 75 percent of this number went to private colleges and universities. The same trend holds for other years. At the basic education level, school participation rate increased (ADB/WB 1999), except in school year 2000/01 when elementary participation rate fell to 96.8 percent from 97.0 the previous year (Reyes 2003). The growth rate post-crisis, however, was flatter than before the crisis. Data culled by the National Statistical Coordination Board show some differences in school performance of boys and girls as the level goes higher. 80. Some improvements in education and human resource development are apparent in the last few years, as noted in the assessment pertinent to Article 10. Government interventions in the sector centered on reforms to improve the efficiency of the education system, enhance the teachinglearning process and skills for competitiveness, and ensure equity in basic education. The thrust of the present educational program is toward increased accessibility of both formal and nonformal education, particularly tertiary education and vocational education training, to equip every Filipino with skills to cope with the new economic environment. Basic Social Services 81. The government has been working to improve the delivery of basic services. As a result, there has been an slight increase in the percentage of all families with access to safe water (from 81990 and 1995 data on maternal, infant and child mortality rates were taken from the “Final Report of the TWG on Maternal and Child Mortality” (NSCB 1995), while the 1998 data were derived from the NSO 1998 National Demographic and Health Survey. 33