Dr. FE DEL MUNDO
Dedicated Doctor, Inspiring Innovator
By Fides Lim

Try to "google" the words "Dr. Fe del Mundo." You can leave out the "Dr." if you wish, and just use lower case letters. And you'll turn up entries attributing the invention of the incubator to the venerable mother of Philippine pediatrics, even as the first modern incubator for premature and weak infants was invented a good 20 years before the birth of the doyenne of Filipino doctors in 1911.

But the entries about her invention of the incubator are not entirely wrong. The 1977 Ramon Magsaysay awardee for public service did device an incubator, utilitarian in purpose and ingenious in its adaptation.

Her abiding concern for the plight of the poor in her country taught her to be creative. She had to be so, and to do so, to save lives in a country where electricity is rare in remote reaches and medical care rarer still, and where children die of the most common yet preventable diseases before they can experience either.

In an interview, the 95-year old doctor who is still in active practice said her makeshift incubator consisted of two native woven baskets used for keeping laundry. Of different sizes, the smaller basket was placed inside the larger one.

"I put in hot water bottles all around between them. The water bags kept the inner basket warm. I put a little hood over the entire contraption and attached oxygen for the baby," she said. "We had to do with whatever was available."

The simple technology of her other innovations is no less remarkable than the number of lives they saved and strengthened.

She developed a radiant warmer, an open lighted cot, using the ubiquitous bamboo. The device closely served the same function of maintaining the body temperature of newborns needing special care. She is also credited with an improved device to relieve infant jaundice as well as a cloth-suspended scale to weigh infants.

A pioneer in the expanded role of pediatrics, Dr. del Mundo is also linked to developing the BRAT treatment. This has nothing to do though with spoiled little darlings but refers to the mnemonic acronym that she is said to have coined.

Short for banana, rice, apple and tea, BRAT is the common dietary treatment recommended for diarrhea for children and even adults. Any or a combination of these foods can stop dehydration during diarrhea, a very serious and leading cause of child death in poor countries.

Bananas, rich in tannin and important nutrients like potassium and magnesium, have an astringent value that work to decrease intestinal porousness. A pap made with banana is easily digested by babies.

Also effective is rice water that results from boiling a cup of rice in three cups of water.

Apples, that can be served grated, contain pectin which acts as a laxative that adds bulk to stools but has the opposite good effect of minimizing loose bowel movement.

Tea is an ancient remedy famed for its bowel-tightening qualities.

By 1962, the rural rehydration centers that she initiated were saving lives of infants dying of diarrhea. Integral to this is her campaign to educate mothers about the benefits of breastfeeding over bottle-feeding, the regular weighing of children under five and the periodic examination of water supplies.

Her contributions extend as well not only to the health of Filipino children but to the world's understanding of childhood diseases. She has produced 150 scientific papers that range broadly from the measurements of 10,839 newborn babies and commonly missed children's diseases to rheumatic infection and herpangina.

Her studies on dengue fever during the dengue epidemic in 1954 have led to a fuller understanding of the mosquito-borne virus as it afflicts the young. Her major research on the immunization of children against major viral diseases like polio, measles and German measles influenced public policy.

Another major continuing program is the eradication of tuberculosis. A sensitive index of a nation's poverty, TB is the sixth cause of death and illness in the Philippines.

In 2000, the first Filipina National Scientist received a grant from the Program for Asian Projects to carry out a "DOTS" course in an urban poor community in Quezon City where 160 children were found to have TB. Short for the WHO-sponsored "Directly Observed Treatment Short Course," the project educates parents about the dangers of TB if not treated and implements treatment measures.

The list of her innovations by no means ends here. For the indefatigable, "unretireable" Dr. Fe del Mundo, the process of invention and reinvention is only as important as making a difference in the life and future of every child.