Traditional Beliefs and Practices on Postpartum Care in a Rural Community in the Philippines: Towards a Multidisciplinary Practice of Postpartum Care

In an earlier study that the researchers conducted about the perspectives on health and wellbeing of the Ilocanos in Northern Luzon, they found that postpartum care is laden with many traditional beliefs and practices. For the Ilocanos, traditional practices related to postpartum care are integrated in their observance of tanggad, the Ilocano term for postpartum care practices. Among all the traditional health beliefs and practices identified in the said study, beliefs and practices surrounding tanggad stood out which indicates that the Ilocanos take childbirth and postpartum care as a serious health condition. The result of the study inspired the researchers to do a follow up research on the traditional beliefs and practices surrounding postpartum care, highlighting the observation that these beliefs and practices may have implications on overall maternal health. It has been said that when a woman gives birth, half of her feet are already buried on the ground. What people did not know is that around “two-thirds of all maternal deaths occur during the postpartum period” in the Philippines (Yamashita, Suplido, LadinesLlave, Tanaka, Senba, and Matsuo, 2014). This scenario still occurs despite the efforts of the health department to provide a holistic health care for all. What happens to the mother on the days and weeks after giving birth must then be given appropriate attention in order to facilitate a more responsive health care service to improve maternal health care.