A child born in the Philippines is at greater risk of dying than children born in other Southeastern Asian countries, according to the latest results from the 2003 National Demographic and Health Surveys (NDHS) conducted by the National Statistics Office. In the Philippines for every 1000 births, 29 children will die before their first birthday (infant mortality rate), and 40 will die before age 5 (under-five mortality rate) (Table 1). Although the infant mortality rate in the Philippines has decreased slightly since 1998, it is still high compared to other countries in the region—Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia.