SOME READERS might still remember the 1993 movie ?Heaven and Earth? that was supposedly the final installment of director Oliver Stone?s Vietnam trilogy.
The movie was based on the autobiography of a Vietnamese woman named Le Ly, titled ?When Heaven and Earth Changed Places,? a reference to a Vietnamese saying describing chaotic times. The movie, as I remember it, traces Le Ly?s peaceful life in rural Vietnam that is interrupted by war and her own involvement as a young freedom fighter. She later moves with her mother to Saigon where she eventually meets an American soldier who convinces her to join him when he?s sent back to the United States. The rest of the movie chronicles her culture shock upon encountering the bounties and excesses of America, leading to her rediscovery of her Buddhist roots and a lifelong desire to bridge the differences between East and West.
This led to the establishment of the East Meets West Foundation 23 years ago. The first project of the foundation, says it present president John Anner, was to organize tours for returning American Vietnamese veterans who wished to re-visit the country and meet with people they may have at one point faced in battle. But in the years since, the foundation has moved on to advocating and implementing development projects not just in Vietnam but in other countries in Southeast Asia.
One of these projects is called ?Breath of Life,? which is meant to reduce neonatal or newborn deaths in poor countries where health care systems often lack the most basic equipment to ensure the survival of newborn babies, especially the premature or underweight who most often die of respiratory distress.
This is because very young or underweight babies often lack ?surfactants,? causing their lungs to collapse, thus requiring them to struggle for each breath they take, causing them to literally die of exhaustion. To help these newborns survive, they need to be put on ventilators, but such machines are not only expensive; they are also expensive to maintain, what with attendant costs for spare parts and consumables.
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WHAT makes the situation even more lamentable is that these newborn deaths are easily preventable. The world knows the main causes of neonatal deaths: respiratory distress, prematurity, hypothermia and infection which in more developed countries would be treated without difficulty.
But as the East Meets West Foundation has proven in Vietnam, it is possible to drastically cut the rate of neonatal deaths without too much expense or even a massive overhaul of the health care system. Although its health care system is similar to the Philippines, Vietnam has been able to reduce infant mortality, from a high of 80 deaths for every 1,000 births 10 years ago, to the present 23/1,000, and in urban areas to an even lower 10 or 12/1,000.
Although a large part of this success is due to system reform in Vietnam, also playing an important role has been the Breath of Life Program, implemented by EMW in collaboration with a private local medical engineering company and the National Hospital of Pediatrics in Hanoi.
Essentially, what the program seeks is to replace the sophisticated but expensive respirators and other equipment (such as light ?boxes? for babies with jaundice) with ?high-quality, low-cost, appropriate medical technologies and relevant training to hospitals and health clinics to reduce the infant mortality and morbidity rate.? In Vietnam, the equipment installed and used in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in hospitals around the country are all locally made and maintained by local technicians and mechanics.
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NEWS of the ?Breath of Life? program was shared by Anner and Consuelo Foundation?s Rey Dean Salvosa over dinner this week. Having observed the program?s success at the National Hospital of Pediatrics in Hanoi, Salvosa found the NICU operations ?fascinating and necessary,? and determined to establish similar operations in public hospitals here.
He brought over Anner for a two-day visit, meeting with doctors in PGH and other hospitals, health authorities and anybody else willing to listen to convince them that ?Breath of Life? is not only needed here, but eminently ?doable.?
The best news is that the program costs a mere $50,000 or about P2.5 million to start up a NICU with all the necessary equipment and trained personnel. In fact, EMW has prepared a project proposal seeking to establish a NICU at the Philippine General Hospital which would become the national training center for improving neonatal health outcomes in the country.
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WHILE the country has been able to bring down the number of ?Under-5? deaths in the last decade, in recent years the downward trend has stalled, mainly because the health system has failed to address the number of neonatal deaths.
A nationwide network of NICUs with low-cost and low-maintenance equipment and trained personnel could very well reduce the number of newborns dying, much the same way as deaths have been avoided in Vietnam.
During our dinner, in fact, Anner, Salvosa, writer Maribel Ongpin and I discussed how, if only each member of Congress would be willing to allocate just P2.5 million from his or her countrywide development fund, then we would have over 200 NICUs around the country, saving the lives of babies and preventing a host of unfavorable health outcomes.
Of course, babies don?t vote, and won?t vote until more than a decade later. But imagine. Wouldn?t boasting of saving thousands of babies? lives be better for one?s campaign than any number of waiting sheds and basketball courts?
