The Story of Rosario Dr Edelina Dela Paz

The Story of Rosario Dr Edelina Dela Paz University of the Philippines School of Medicine 2012

The village of Tanyong. .

The village has a land area of 5 hectares…

Children often accidentally fall into the black water …

A survey done revealed that only 10% of the households had a toilet……

…while 90% used the river to dispose of human waste…

Only 10% availed of water piped into their houses….

… 90% had to fetch water from an artesian well ….

5 gallons of water cost Philippines peso (₱)15 - 30…. ₱ 1 = AUD 0. 025

None of the families owned the house. . .

A small room was rented for ₱ 500 -….

- ₱ 1000 a month.

A bigger room was rented for ₱ 1, 500 – ₱ 2, 000 / month.

Jaime and his family lived in the village of Tanyong. .

His wife Lucy. . .

……… Jocelyn, 5 years old. . .

Marites, 4 years old. . .

Antonio, 2 1/2 years old. . .

And Rosario, 1 year and 4 months old. . .

Jaime was among the 70% of the population. . .

Jaime, like his father, was a poor peasant …….

… they migrated to Manila.

Jaime worked as a laborer in a construction site in Metro Manila.

He earned ₱ 165/day (EU 2. 6).

Lucy tried her best to fit 3 meals a day within ₱ 50 (EU 0. 80)…. .

…. Lucy often skipped meals…. .

Lucy is a high school graduate. . .

…Lucy was told not to breastfeed because she had a heart ailment. . . She was told to buy an infant formula…….

Lucy fed all her children with condensed milk. . .

All her children were malnourished. . .

. . they frequently passed out parasites in their feces….

Antonio and Rosario were not vaccinated. . . The village health center did not have enough vaccines for all the children in the village.

Rosario was the most sickly…. . Rosario contracted measles….

Lucy brought Rosario to the nearest health center. .

Lucy bought the medicines prescribed for Rosario. . Loviscol ₱ 109 (EU 1. 75) Ercefuryl ₱ 243 (EU 4) Ceporex ₱ 150/ 30 ml (EU 2. 50)

Lucy could not buy additional medicines. . Rosario continued to have diarrhea…

The nurse advised Lucy to bring Rosario to a private hospital. . The hospital bill piled up to P 4, 150 after only one night…

They were told to bring Rosario back once they had money to pay for the hospital services. . After one week of fever and diarrhea, Rosario eventually died.

Why did Rosario die?

Group Work Each group will discuss the reasons why Rosario died u The facilitator will document the discussion on the white paper provided for the discussion u When the issues have been thoroughly discussed, each group will form 3 statements that summarize their conclusions from Rosario’s story. u A reporter from each group will share their conclusions to the other participants in a plenary session (3 minutes per group). u