RACONTEURPH

DoH-EU-WHO forum centers on health programs in PH

The Department of Health (DoH), together with the European Union (EU) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), recently held discussions on EU support to the Philippine health sector reform agenda, particularly key learnings from two budget support programmes implemented by the EU in the Philippines. The event took place last June 3 at the Manila Hotel.

Aside from the budget support programmes, the event also focused on recommendations and action plans for the recently enacted Universal Healthcare (UHC) law, an act that aims to promote equal access to essential health services while protecting beneficiaries against financial risk that these services may entail.

EU consultant Dr. Giovanni Cascone led the presentation on the second phase of the Health Sector Policy Support Programme and the Philippine Health Sector Reform Contract (PHRSC) evaluation. Both budget support programmes by the EU have enabled the local health department to deliver better healthcare services to people in many parts of the country.

Among the numerous key learnings from the implementation of these programs is the utilization of a demand-driven approach, which enabled PHRSC proponents to provide healthcare tailored to the needs of the population. Both programmes also resulted in an increase in the number of Philippine National Health Insurance Programme beneficiaries from 62% in 2010 to 92% in 2018, the establishment of drug recovery clinics offering evidenced-based drug abuse treatments, and improved sexual and reproductive health care services for numerous beneficiaries in the last ten years.

“The last ten years have been fruitful for health reforms based on the evaluation. The programmes enabled countless Filipinos to improve their overall health, especially women and children in far-flung areas of the country who need access to quality healthcare the most,” said Cascone. “It’s all thanks to the hard work of the DoH, and selfless individuals who contributed to health reforms over the years.”

DoH Undersecretary Dr. Mario Villaverde and WHO representative Dr. Gundo Weiler followed with discussions on recommendations related to the implementation of the UHC law in the Philippines. These recommendations include increasing support for DoH and PhilHealth in terms of health financing, implementation of new policies, health management and governance, and prioritizing the development of human resources for health, to name a few.

“The UHC act provides an actionable legal mandate for the integration of primary health care within the government health system and encourages sectoral reform cooperation and action on a wide range of health needs,” Weiler said.

Villaverde said that the three priorities of the UHC law should be the unification of the fragmented local healthcare system, financing and efficient use of resources, and crafting a regulatory framework that covers pricing, quality, and distribution of services. “By prioritizing these, it will enable us and our partner organizations to lay the groundwork for a more comprehensive UHC later on.”

WHO representative Dr. Albert Domingo said that aside from these, another priority should be the definition of roles of each organization involved in the UHC’s implementation. “The meat of the UHC Law, among many other things, should be getting the roles clearly delineated and ensuring that there is accountability.”

“If we are able to define the rules and responsibilities by concretely assigning them to particular actors such as the province- and city-level systems, then we might be able to move things forward much more efficiently,” Domingo added.

Both the EU and WHO then pledged that they will remain committed to helping DoH fulfill its mandate of creating a more democratized healthcare system in the Philippines. "We will always be ready to support and assist the Philippines in unity with other members of the UHC Partnership, because health for all must be health by all," said Weiler.

MAIN PHOTO: Dr. Albert Domingo, WHO Philippines Representative; Dr. Mar Wyn Bello, DOH Health Promotion and Communication Service Director; Dr. Gundo Weiler, WHO Representative to the Philippines; Dr. Mario Villaverde, DOH Undersecretary; Dr. Diana Van Daele, EU Delegation in the Philippines’s Programme Manager Health, and Dr. Giovanni Cascone, Team Leader of Experts evaluating the two Budget Support Programmes.