To fast-track the implementation of Universal Health Care (UHC) in the province, the local government of Agusan del Sur chose its Talacogon, La Paz, and San Luis (TaLaSan) inter-local health zone (ILHZ) as a prototype site for strengthening primary health care, which is the foundation of UHC.

The League of Corporate Foundations (LCF), where the Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) is a member, formalized its support to the province’s efforts through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last March 7.

Representing the province and the municipalities during the signing were Agusan del Sur Governor Santiago Cane, Jr. and the mayors of Talacogon, La Paz, and San Luis: Pauline Masendo, Michael Lim, and Phoebe Corvera, respectively. Also present were Dr. Jacqueline Frances Momville, provincial health officer II; and Maximillian Robert Ventura, Philam Foundation president, and LCF trustee.

The LCF aims to provide technical support to link TaLaSan’s barangay health centers with the municipal health offices and district hospitals. It has provided a cloud-based electronic medical record (EMR) for TaLaSan ILHZ, and laptops to pilot barangays for EMR. The LCF reconstructed the rural health unit in La Paz; set up a safe handwashing facility in Talacogon; and donated oxygen concentrators, laptops, and other medical equipment essential for noncommunicable diseases. It also donated a drone with a 6kg capacity for the delivery of medicines and other health care supplies in far-flung areas in San Luis.

Agusan del Sur is under ZFF’s Provincial Leadership and Governance Program, which focuses on the capacity-building of local health leaders to strengthen provincial health systems toward UHC amid the pandemic. ZFF’s Executive Director Austere A. Panadero sits on the board of trustees of LCF.

“Investing in health for all is not optional so we should invest in the health leaders’ competencies to lead the way to UHC (Universal Health Care) implementation,” said Health Undersecretary Myrna C. Cabotaje during the opening ceremony of a UHC Convention held in Baguio City yesterday.

The Department of Health (DOH) was a partner of the Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) for a program in health leadership and governance program that ran from 2013 to 2018, with Cabotaje participating in one of the training components when she was still the regional director of DOH Ilocos Region. And today, a new partnership was signed with DOH’s Center for Health Development (CHD) in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Ilocos Region (Region 1), and Cagayan Valley (Region 2) to strengthen the leadership and governance capacities of regional, provincial, and city health leaders and professionals to fast-track the achievement of UHC goals despite the pandemic.

The ceremonial signing was part of a two-day UHC Convention for Northern Luzon, wherein leaders from the CAR, and Regions 1 and 2 shared good practices and innovations in addressing the gaps and challenges of UHC implementation amid the pandemic.

Capacity-building of key health leaders
The partnership program, called Leadership and Development Program for Universal Health Care (LDP-UHC), builds on the achievements of ZFF’s Provincial Leadership and Governance Program (PLGP), which started in 2013. Compared to other UHC sites, the three provinces under ZFF’s current PLGP design (Agusan del Sur, Aklan, and Bataan) are progressing faster toward attaining UHC despite the COVID-19 pandemic, making them possible models for the rest of the country when Congress reviews the UHC law’s implementation in 2025.

PLGP focuses on sustaining gains, strengthening the provincial health system to produce better health outcomes, and achieving the required managerial, technical, and financial integrations under the UHC maturity model of DOH. The updated program has also been tied to the COVID-19 response to ensure continuity amid disruptions, such as pandemics, with a focus on primary health care (PHC).

As Regional Director Rio L. Magpantay of DOH-CAR pointed out in his welcoming remarks during the convention, “Ensuring strong primary health care in every community is the foundation to a strong UHC.”

The LDP-UHC includes training for regional directors, assistant directors, and UHC coordinators through two executive sessions on strategic leadership, management, and planning to support faster UHC implementation. There will be two modules for provincial health team leaders to help them coach, mentor, and provide technical support in setting up province-wide/city-wide health systems for UHC. There will also be a six-month practicum period with coaching and mentoring. A learning session will mark the end of the LDP-UHC.

As a result, provinces in their regions would have advanced faster, if not completed all requirements to have functional provincial health boards, restructured provincial health offices, provincial health investment plans, and management and health promotion committees. They would also be committed to taking necessary actions to ensure uninterrupted progress toward UHC.

ZFF’s partnership with DOH has led to other noteworthy collaborations, including with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). With this new partnership with the three CHDs in Northern Luzon, ZFF hopes that more agencies will follow the lead to accelerate the achievement of better health outcomes for all Filipinos.

This manual contains information about the Barangay Malnutrition Review (BMR) as a regular activity of the barangay nutrition committee. The barangay midwives, nurses, nutrition scholars, health workers, and nutrition action officers take the lead in gathering information on malnutrition cases for discussion in the said committee. This manual is designed to better guide them in data acquisition, deliberation, and identification of appropriate interventions.

On his final term as the city’s chief executive, Tagum City Mayor Allan L. Rellon will pass on a legacy of championing nutrition to his successor. Under his leadership, Tagum was able to bring down stunting and wasting among children under 2 years even amid the pandemic.

Tagum is a long-time partner of the Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) from the Municipal Leadership and Governance Program in 2015. And while Tagum has already received a national award from the National Nutrition Council, Rellon still re-engaged with ZFF for the City Nutrition Governance Program (CNGP) to aid the implementation of the Republic Act. 11148 (Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Magnanay Act) focused on the health and nutrition of a child during the first 1,000 days (F1KD).

Three objectives
The first objective of the CNGP, a partnership program of ZFF with Nutrition International, is to lead integrated actions for F1KD. Rellon established a City Nutrition Committee (CNC) that included sectors not primarily involved in health and nutrition such as the city offices for social welfare and development, agriculture, youth division, and public employment and education.

Rellon also chaired an inter-department planning workshop that resulted in the formulation of the city’s vision of a city of healthy and productive people. This vision guided the city’s integrated response to nutrition challenges.

To address food insecurity amid the pandemic, those with malnourished family members and others experiencing food insecurity were engaged in backyard-container gardening and farming on city-leased land. They earn by selling the crops through the Agri Mobile Market. Tricycle drivers who were not allowed to take passengers because of the pandemic were tapped as delivery personnel under the Agri Runner program.

Through Rellon’s nutrition referral, having a malnourished member became part of the criteria for food, livelihood, housing, and employment assistance. In addition, households with malnourished members are prioritized for social protection programs such as PhilHealth city sponsorships.
The second objective of empowering front-line workers for the continuity of F1KD services amid the pandemic was fulfilled through the participation in a training course with practicum (Nutrition and Health Leadership program) and the City Nutrition System Strengthening Workshop. Mayor Rellon, together with other health and nutrition officials, also had a deep dive into the situation on the ground and learned how nutrition is affected by several other factors such as employment opportunities and quality of settlements.

As a result, Rellon and the CNC were able to come up with the distribution of food packs with rice, duck eggs, milk, and honey to nutritionally-at-risk (NAR) pregnant women and malnourished children.

The city offices for social welfare and development, agriculture, and public employment and education were tapped for employment; while the housing and land management, and youth division offices provided building materials and relocation for F1KD beneficiaries.

To fulfill the last objective of improving the F1KD information system for collaborative actions, the city government purchased laptops for the barangay nutrition scholars. Along with training and monitoring tools under CNGP, the city’s data management improved and a two-way flow of information between the nutrition department and other sectors was established. This led to the proper tracking and immediate rehabilitation of NAR pregnant women, among others.

Read more about Tagum and the other cities under CNGP in Case Stories on Nutrition Leadership and Governance.