CHR NATIONAL INQUIRY ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH causing maternal death. 41 At the time of the Inqury, the local governments banning home births are Marikina City, Quezon City, Brooke’s Point (Palawan), Midsalip (Bukidnon), Midsayap (Bukidnon), Minalin (Pampanga), MacArthur (Leyte), Sultan Kudarat province, Talisay City (Cebu), Dingle (Iloilo), and Estancia (Iloilo). It should be noted that the DOH, while it has encouraged births in medical facilities, has not issued any policy penalizing or criminalizing traditional birth practices. Lack of Access to RH Services and Facilities and Denial of RH Services Displacement as a result of development aggression, armed conflict, or natural disasters adds another layer of hindrance to access to justice to RH services and information for women. Violence Against Women The National Inquiry has shown that many women suffer and are vulnerable from VAW at various levels: in the family, in the community, and from institutions. In several cases, while information is available on the remedies in cases of VAW, women are faced with issues of access, lack of sensitivity of the duty bearers, and the lack of understanding of the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination experienced by women, especially those from the marginalized sectors. 39 sexual health services. The PWDs, for instance, are de facto barred from accessing health services when the accommodation of PWDs (e.g. in terms physical structure of facilities, service delivery, and attiudes of health providers) by the system itself is problematic. Lack of sensitivity to the situation of LGBTIs in addition to the lack of attention to specific reproductive and sexual health needs and issues of women belonging to this group also discourages access to RH services even when these are available to them. This is also true for women living with HIV / AIDS who are stigmatized because of their condition. There is a general lack of awareness, coupled with erroneous beliefs and stereotypes, on HIV / AIDS which hinders people, especially women, from seeking assistance. There is also lack of trained health workers on managing HIV / AIDS cases in a culturally and gender sensitive manner. 5. Government and private health service providers continue to face policy and legal challenges, unsustainable human resource management; lack of support; policy, religious, and cultural resistance; and absence of healthseeking behavior among clients Invisibility of Issues and Specific Vulnerabilities of Women in Marginalized Sectors Region X has an explicitly discriminatory policy against women nurses and midwives exist – the prohibition against pregnancy as part of their work contract. Another barrier is the unsustainability of Health Human Resource Management. In all of the cluster areas visited during the fact-finding, the Commission documented the temporary nature of the appointments of midwives and nurses in Barangay Health Stations and RHUs. Apart from Moro and IP women, women with disabilities and LBTIs also experience discrimination with regard reproductive and The National Inquiry also document uneven support for BHWs. Some barangays and LGUs are supportive of BHWs; they provide substantial Likhaan Center for Women. A Report on the Project “Investigating Responses to Obstetric Complications and Access to Emergency Obstetric Care Among Urban Poor Women in Malabon, Philippines” 41