Who Killed Rosario?

Rosario was deprived of her right to live her life.

She was killed unjustly.

Rosario was murdered.

By whom?

By many.

First off are her parents, the ones beside her throughout her short tragic journey in life. Her parents' lack of education in most of the things lead to her suffering. No family planning was done to assess their capability to start a family. Jaime was just 19 years old when Jocelyn is born, their first child. No birth spacing was followed. No proper care for their children was given. No breastfeeding because of misinformation. No immunizations. No adequate resources–– from their financial to living resources in general.

Her parents are not the sole ones to blame. The society they are living in made them believe that they just have to keep faith in God. Surely, there is nothing wrong with believing in Him, but relying upon faith would not provide their needs. The mindset of “Diyos na ang bahala” inculcated by society makes them depend on their life to a supreme being. It made them think that being poor is okay because they have God guiding them throughout.

Her parents’ insufficient knowledge in growing a family killed her. Everything was lacking even before she had measles.

Another factor in society that aggravated the situation of Rosario's family is the myths/ false information that was chosen to believe. As a matter of fact: Calamansi is a good source of Vitamin C and helps in strengthening the immune system (Tacio, 2019). Breastfeeding is not contraindicated for women having heart conditions, especially if it is not a severe one. Breastfeeding helps in lowering the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in the long run. (Patel, 2019). Soil-transmitted helminth infections are among the most common infections in humans and those living in poverty are most vulnerable to infection which can impair nutritional status (WHO, 2019). Any vaccine can cause side effects. For the most part, these are minor (for example, a sore arm or low-grade fever) and go away within a few days (CDC, 2020).

Another culprit here is the flawed health system that we have. It seemed that the people behind this webbed system that “support” the health system to provide a standard quality of care to everyone despite their socioeconomic status are just true in words for publicity and numbers for statistics, but never in action, which is the most vital by the way. It was emphasized in textbooks that health is for everyone and that they are ensuring affordable, acceptable, available, and accessible health care services for all citizens of the country.

But in Rosario's situation, how would her parents afford the high-cost medical expenses with an income of PhP 165/day? That amount of money would not suffice their living needs, even without the health needs.  There were no available vaccines for immunization, no medications for patients in the health center, not enough healthcare workers, and inadequate funding for the health sector. Where is their so-called “standard quality of care” if the essential factors in providing health care are unavailable nor inaccessible to people most in need?

Rosario was also killed by Barrio Tanyong. She was born in a place uninhabitable for someone so vulnerable. It was ironic that many people are living in Barrio Tanyong, but it is the same place where someone died. That barrio made it hard for the young child to survive. It did not give her enough space to live. It was situated in a place that is unendurable, unsanitary, and full of hazards for everyone. It did not provide her with potable water. It did not allow her to experience the beauty of the world. Instead, she was forced to face the dark reality of poverty at such a very young age.  That Barrio made her suffer, become malnourished, diarrheic, and sickly. That Barrio killed her.

It is easy to say that Rosario was killed because of the complications brought about by the measles she had, but no. She died unfairly. There are so many should-haves and what-ifs. There were numerous ways to prevent her from dying, to save her, but she still lost her precious life. There is no justice in blaming the disease itself when there are several factors that deprived her of living a good life.

Never forget.

Rosario was murdered.

By whom?

By many.