BAGUIO CITY – The Department of Health Cordillera Regional Office convened partners and other stakeholders for the 2017 Regional Health Summit last week to strengthen partnership and cooperation in pushing for a healthy Cordillera and for the attainment of the Philippine Health Agenda.
Dubbed as “Am –among for Health”, the summit was attended by local chief executives, provincial/municipal health officers, district hospital and health centers officials and other stakeholders in the health sector from various parts of the region.
DOH-Cordillera Regional Director Dr. Lakshmi Legaspi explained that “Am – among” is a native Cordillera word that means gathering, thus, through the summit, the Health Department renews its call for a continuing partnership and collaboration towards better health outcomes in the region and in the country.
Asst. Regional Director Dr. Amelita Pangilinan presented the Philippine Health Agenda under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte in which she pointed out that along with the slogan “All For Health, Towards Health for All”, it carries three guarantees namely, Services for both the well and the sick on all life stages and triple burden of disease; Service Delivery through functional network of health facilities, and universal health insurance.
To achieve this, DOH is utilizing the “ACHIEVE” strategies – an acronym that stands forAdvance health promotion, primary care and quality; Cover all Filipinos against financial health risk; harness the power of strategic human resources for health; Invest in eHealth and data for decision making; Enforce standards, accountability and transparency; Value clients and patients, and Elicit multi – stakeholder support for health.
There were also sharing of best practices and experiences such as the Health and Sanitation program of Barangay Buag in Bambang Nueva Vizacaya; DOH Region 1 on its use of electronic medical records for early capture and response; Baguio City Health Services Office for its citywide campaign for a smoke – free Baguio; DOH Region II on its Blood Services Network program; Philhealth’s Best practices and realigning the health sector towards the PHA and Sustainable Development Goalss from a 5th class municipality by Danglas, Abra.
DOH – CAR also presented the Regional Summary of LGU (health) Scorecards 2015 and recognized the best performing LGUs. For the provincial level, Benguet was at first place and Kalinga at second place. For the municipal level, Sta. Marcela, Apayao (1st); Tublay, Benguet (2nd) and San Quintin, Abra (3rd).
To ensure better health promotions, DOH -CAR also gave out 58 LED televisions for the use of provincial/ district hospitals and health centers in showcasing health programs and advocacies. /PIA CAR
