Some 30 kilometers south of the Capiz provincial capital of Roxas City, sits a typhoon-devastated rural town getting little outside help.

In a short speech before the distribution of relief packs to 120 families of Barangay Mapulang Bato, Dao Mayor Joselito Escutin said Zuellig Family Foundation, along with the Social Action Center of the Archdiocese of Roxas, was the first non-government organization to help his town. According to Escutin, his town was “back to zero” after typhoon “Haiyan” destroyed buildings, felled trees and electric posts, left roofless buildings and homes and inundated most parts of Dao. Barangay Mapulang Bato is where a ZFF-funded birthing facility was built. It served as a refuge for 20 families during the onslaught of the super typhoon. Between November 19 and 20, the foundation held medical missions in Dao and Ivisan, another Capiz partner-municipality of ZFF. The foundation’s team of health professionals and volunteers was able to attend to over 1,800 persons during the two-day mission.

Following the mission in Ivisan, Mayor Felipe Yap commented that everyone who availed of the free services came out happy and satisfied.

Mounting the medical missions and distribution of relief packs entailed the assistance of the local government units of Ivisan and Dao and other groups to which ZFF is grateful. Dominican sisters and faculty opened their school, Our Lady of Fatima Academy, for the medical mission while Robinsons Supermarket Merville and Iloilo branches packed and loaded goods for distribution. Medicines were donated by the Interphil Laboratories Inc., Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines and Zuellig Pharma.

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ZFF has ongoing recovery programs in Eastern Visayas. To help in these efforts, please get in touch with Sealdi Gonzales,scgonzales@zuelligfoundation.org, or call her at (632) 8213329 local 117.

In a first for the Zuellig Family Foundation, a medical mission was mounted on November 19 for the victims of super typhoon Haiyan in the ZFF partner-town of Ivisan in Capiz. Another medical mission was held in Dao, Capiz the next day.

According to Dao Mayor Joselito Escutin, the super typhoon was the “worst” to have ever hit his town and added that Dao is “back to zero” as the typhoon badly damaged and tore the roofs off church, school buildings, health centers, daycare centers, barangay halls, gym and almost all houses.

While the Foundation has been distributing relief kits to victims of calamities since its establishment, this is the first time it undertook a medical mission. Given the extent of the damage and with a staff made of a number of health professionals, ZFF saw it fit to render medical assistance aside from giving relief goods. Volunteer health professionals also joined the ZFF team.

Transportation challenges from Manila to the affected areas have made the delivery of relief goods slow and difficult. Of the 12,000 kits for Capiz families, over a thousand kits have been brought to the province and distributed to different villages in Ivisan and Dao as of November 20. The Foundation expects the delivery of the remaining kits and their distribution in the two municipalities in the next couple of days.

Aside from Capiz, the Foundation has also prepared 8,095 kits for families in the municipalities of Salcedo, Giporlos and General MacArthur in Eastern Samar. Additionally, the Foundation will donate medicines in nine Samar and Northern Samar municipalities and in the Palawan municipalities of Agutaya and Magsaysay.

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ZFF has ongoing recovery programs in Eastern Visayas. To help in these efforts, please get in touch with Sealdi Gonzales,scgonzales@zuelligfoundation.org, or call her at (632) 8213329 local 117.

By Cash Maghirang

Thanks to the municipality-sponsored basic life support (BLS) training for barangay (village) leaders, 81-year old Lola Sario Mistula continues to enjoy the company of her grandchildren while sitting on her favorite rocking chair.

It was during a rainy night in Barangay Lipason in Pilar, Sorsogon, when relatives of Lola Sario discovered her lying unconscious in her bathroom floor. Two barangay tanods (village watchmen) were the first to respond to the calls for help. Luckily for Lola Sario both Efren Reyes and Augusto Llabares attended the BLS training.
For several minutes while onboard a tricycle, the two performed continuous cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the grandmother. Lola Sario regained consciousness before reaching the hospital.

For Llabares, the event was extra meaningful because in 2010, he failed to save the life of a mother who accidentally fell into the river while washing clothes. Back then, he did not know how to perform CPR properly. So when he heard a BLS training will be provided in his village by the local government, he immediately signed up for the program.

The hard part of making improvements in their community’s health situation has been accomplished. Now, the more difficult task of sustaining the gains is at hand.

During the last of the four-module Health Leaders for the Poor (HLP) program of the Zuellig Family Foundation for its 13 partner-municipalities, the mayors presented the different improvements in their respective towns. However, they all acknowledged that it was just the beginning.

San Fernando, Romblon Mayor Fernando Rios said that, “what we have done is small compared to the larger picture,” but with the ZFF’s help, at least, “we are now headed for the right direction.”

Mayor Ibarra Manzala of Magdiwang, Romblon shared what he felt was a very important learning he got from his municipality’s partnership with the ZFF. “I now have the passion for health. And I need to share this passion with the rest of my people.”

The Foundation knows sustainability matters the most. Thus, for the fourth module, the participants were reintroduced to the concept of “health as a right” and provided options to increase community participation in the planning and implementation of health programs. Creating partnerships through functional and strengthened inter-local health zones was also emphasized during the four-day training.

With reports from Bien Nillos, M.D.

In the island-municipality of Daram in Samar, 11 midwives oversee a population of 40,567. This equates to about one midwife for every 3,700 people, which is a sufficient ratio. Despite this, a look into their maternal and child-related health statistics shows a serious problem exists. In 2010, there were 844 maternal deliveries. Out of these, only 383 or 45.37% were attended by skilled health workers. Worse, only 69 or 8.17% occurred in a health facility.

These numbers are actually modest improvements when compared to those of 2009 when only 38.35% of deliveries, which totalled 691, had the assistance of a skilled health worker while just 4.48% took place in a health facility. Three maternal deaths were recorded in 2010 while there were two in 2009.

Daram is a fourth class municipality that got into the Zuellig Family Foundation’s Community Health Partnership Program in mid-2010. For five straight years until 2011, it had no municipal health officer (MHO). Their rural health unit (RHU) was a dilapidated structure that could hardly accommodate the number of patients seeking medical attention.

Recently, a bigger and better-equipped RHU was inaugurated. This was done through the local government’s partnership with ZFF and the Asissi Development Foundation. The new facility along with a campaign for facility-based deliveries (FBD)somehow improved FBD ratio, which stood at 15.7% as of the third quarter of the year.

However, health personnel-assisted births remained low in the same period at 39.26%. No maternal death was recorded in 2011.

The ZFF has also been providing health leadership training for the town’s mayor, its new MHO and the president of its association of barangay (village) health workers (BHWs). These training activities are meant to make the leaders more accountable to the health of their constituents.

Health skills training were also given to their midwives and BHWs to increase their competency in maternal and emergency care.

Despite these programs, their health status remains worrisome. Eleven infant deaths were recorded in both 2009 and 2010. In 2011, infant deaths reached 21.

Frontline health workers, particularly midwives, though sufficient in number and competent enough, were found to be lacking in initiative to visit as regularly as possible the four villages assigned to each of them. One of the reasons given is the high cost in going to these villages which may run from P200 to P1,400 a month.

Similar costs can be incurred by locals who need to visit health facilities; hence, majority of pregnant women opt to seek the help of a hilot (traditional birth attendant) when giving birth while the sick do not get to see health professionals.

In efforts to address these, the ZFF discussed strategies with the local health leadership of Daram. One is the early deployment of Community Health Teams. The CHTs program of the Department of Health is envisioned to give direct health assistance to every family especially the poorest by making door-to-door visits. The municipality of Daram will be one of the municipalities in the country to implement this immediately in all its villages.
Among the main purposes of Daram’s CHT, which is composed of a local health councilor, village chief, village health worker and midwife, is to create a master list of all pregnant women to be able educate each woman about proper natal care and track their progress throughout their pregnancy.

Plans are also afoot to rationalize the distribution of midwives to different clusters of villages. Midwives will be assigned based on the proximity of their residences to the clusters. Regrouping of clusters will also be done such that each village is assured of a regular visit from the midwife.

An ordinance will also be made requiring the mandatory presence of midwives in their assigned posts.

Training programs focusing on Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care will also be given by the Foundation to the midwives. Local Community Health Teams will be strengthened through various meetings and dialogues to encourage the regular master listing and monitoring of pregnant women.

The Foundation has been supporting the health infrastructure and medical equipment needs of Daram and has also been seeking other organizations to support the same. Apart from the new RHU, a village health station funded by ZFF was also inaugurated last year. A “Buntis Congress” which is a gathering of pregnant women and their partners was held to educate attendees about proper natal care and the government health programs available to them.

These measures are expected to have an immediate and direct impact on the health status of the locals. It is hoped that with the continued cooperation shown by the local health leadership team, tough challenges in Daram will soon be overcome.

With reports from Jenny Macaraan

Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabelle “Beng” Garcia Climaco-Salazar’s brand of public governance has been anchored on SHE—security, health, and education. She served two terms as a city councilor before becoming vice mayor in 2004 and two terms as congresswoman before being mayor in 2013.

Even the “Zamboanga Siege,” which happened a few months after her election as mayor, did not stop Climaco-Salazar from solving her city’s health issues. Now in her last term, she shared a clear vision of engaging the barangays for a successful health program in the city, with the support of the national government agencies, the private sector, and non-government organizations.

Access to medicines
Climaco-Salazar enrolled her city in 2014 in the first cycle of the City Leadership and Governance Program (CLGP) by the Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) under a partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund.

During the 18-month program, the city improved the access to essential medicines to combat malnutrition, and decrease infant and maternal mortality rates. The mayor increased the health and social services budget and improved the medicine tracking and inventory system. She also addressed the need for health human resources and health financing.

In 2017, Zamboanga City was named the “Most Improved Local Government Unit,” and even ranked fourth nationwide in terms of resilience. That same year, Zamboanga City engaged in the second cycle of the CLGP under a partnership with the United States Agency for International Development.

With the guidance of then-regional health director Dr. Emilia Monicimpo, Climaco-Salazar sought to eradicate preventable diseases among children aged two years and younger by increasing the fully-immunized children (FIC) rate from 89.9% in 2017 to 92.21% in 2018. The city health office (CHO), in partnership with private medical practitioners and the Philippine Pediatric Society- Zamboanga City chapter, supported the expanded immunization program. Climaco-Salazar also convened the city’s hospitals to gather support for the city’s service delivery network (SDN) and referral systems. She met with the presidents of the private hospitals to discuss the city’s health problems and how they may contribute to the continuity of care.

COVID-19 response
At the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Climaco-Salazar immediately formed and headed the Task Force on COVID-19 to prevent the entry and spread of the virus in Zamboanga City.

The mayor has also consistently appealed to her constituents to submit themselves for COVID-19 vaccination. As of January 2022, the CHO data showed that the city is leading in the vaccination rollout in the region. Of the target population, 86.7% is partially inoculated, and the remaining 13.3% is fully vaccinated. The city is even offering to share its vaccines with other LGUs in the region.

With Climaco-Salazar’s leadership, the city government proved its capacity to face serious health challenges.

Enhancing Risk Communication: A Guidebook for Provinces (August 2020)

By Sherwin Pontanilla, M.D.

For 30 minutes every weekday morning, residents of Upi and neighboring towns in Maguindanao can tune in to DXUP-FM 105.5 MHz to learn about illnesses and proper healthcare.

During the first episode of the 16-part “Gabay Kalusugan–Kalusugan N’yo, Toka N’yo ‘To!” (Guide to Health—Your Health, Your Responsibility) program, discussions centered on what it actually means to be healthy and how investing in one’s own health brings tremendous benefits in the long run. It aired last January 16 at the 7 to 7:30 a.m. timeslot and also talked about how every person can both be a part of the problem and solution to different health issues.

The radio program is part of the Health Education Advocacy on Radio (HEAR) program which is an offshoot of the collaboration between the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development (FIT-ED) and the Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF). Its aim is to educate the general public about common health issues, good quality healthcare, proper maternal and child care, infectious diseases and lifestyle diseases.

Succeeding episodes that have aired focused on generic drug’s similar potency with branded medicines;role of the people in improving health service delivery;importance of health insurance; and overview of what and how to avoid infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and dengue as well as what to do once infected.

Recorded in Tagalog, the program airs Monday to Friday and will run until February 6. The radio broadcast can also be heard in some parts of the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato. It can also be heard via live streaming at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/dxup-tv or at http://www.livestream.com/dxuptv.

Visayan version of the program is also available. In the town of Bongao (Tawi-Tawi), a ZFF partner-municipality like Upi, talks are ongoing to air the same program in Tausug.

By Liane May Punsalan

Typhoon notwithstanding, it was business as usual, or in this case, feeding as usual in five schools in the town of Pinabacdao in Samar.Since July, two hundred local elementary students have been eating nutritious lunch every school day.

This is being made possible through the “Busog, Lusog, Talino” (BLT) nutrition program which is a joint undertaking of the Jollibee Foundation (JF), Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) and the local government of Pinabacdao (LGU). It is aimed at addressing hunger among children, helping them stay in school and improving their learning. The program is also being implemented in ZFF’s 12 other partner-municipalities.

Despite the onslaught of typhoon “Ramon,” parents remained undaunted and proceeded to prepare food for students who are under the BLT program. Attendance was almost perfect in all five schools.

On the average, according to Barangay Nutrition Scholar (BNS) Marina Wenceslaso, “six to eight parents are helping out daily.” She adds that “pupils are really eager to eat their meals.”

While menu planning and cooking supervision is done by the school’s feeding coordinator, parents of the students do the marketing, cooking, and actual feeding.

According to JF, by having this set-up, no additional work is imposed on teachers while at the same allowing parents to learn about preparing affordable but nutritious meals. Given the parents’ critical roles in the feeding cycle, the LGU conducted a seminar on food safety and sanitation for them and mobilized the BNS and barangay (village) health workers (BHW) to help the parents.

Halfway through the program implementation, improvements have been observed.

According to BHW president and BLT point person Maria Rosario Achazo, “almost 65% of the pupils have already attained a normal body mass index level.” Jocelyn Solayao, teacher-in-charge of Madalunot Elementary School, also said “there are noticeable developments in the weight, general appearance, attendance, and academic performance of the pupils.”

Luzvie Tepase, a 30-year-old mother whose son is part of the feeding program, said her son is “heavier, looks healthier, and now enjoys eating vegetables even when at home.” According to Solayao, positive changes in the behavior of parents have also been observed.

“Parents are constantly learning new and exciting ways in cooking the meals.” Solayao added that parents have started growing their own vegetables like Tepase who has malunggay (moringga) growing in her backyard, while some are maintaining gardens in the school.

The program also managed to foster improved community participation and stakeholder support. The barangay and school officials in Laygayon organized a bayanihan (community cooperation) for the construction of their feeding center, tables and chairs. The parents contributed firewood, utensils, vegetables, and cash for additional feeding goods while the LGU provided cooking pots.

Success of the program has prompted Pinabacdao mayor Mario Quijano to think of implementing the program in other schools. “Given the initial results of the program, we are looking towards expanding BLT in five more schools.”