As part of the methodology for developing the National Unified Health Research Agenda (NUHRA), the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD), through its partner organizations,conducted a two day regional consultation in region 1 entitled "Organizing Consultative Workshop Towards the Development of the Philippine National Health Research System's Regional Unified Health Research Agenda (RUHRA) 2017-2022.The consultation was held on May 23-24, 2017 at the Northview Hotel, Brgy. Nalbo Laoag City,Ilocos Norte facilitated by the Healthdev Institute.
This consultation was part of the larger effort in developing the NUHRA 2017-2022, which specifies the areas for health research that need to be studied.The regional consultation served as the venue for all relevant stakeholders to create the Regional Unified Research Agenda (RUHRA) priorities.
Participants who attended the said consultation were member and non-member institutions of the Region 1 Health Research and Development Consortium (R1HRDC) to wit: National Commission of Indigenous People (NCIP), Pangasinan Medical Society (PMS), Panpacific University North Philippines (PUNP), Northern Christian College (NCC),Northwestern University (NWU),Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU), Lyceum Northwestern University (LNU),Region 1 Medical Center (R1MC), Virgen Milagrosa University Foundation Inc.(VMUF), Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center (ITRMC),Commission on Higher Education (CHED),Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Health (DOH),Philippine Information Agency (PIA),Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (DMMMSU),National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), University of Northern Philippines (UNP) and Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center (MMMH&MC).
Speakers during the regional consultation were Dr. Miguel Antonio Salazar and Mr. Teddy S. Dizon bothe from the Alliance for Improving Health Outcomes (AIHO) Inc. and Mr. Paul Ernest De Leon from PCHRD-Research and Development Management Division. On the 1st day, topics discussed were: Introduction to the PNHRS and the NUHRA,Orientation to the NUHRA and RUHRA agenda setting priorities,Inputs:Technical Papers and Regional Situationer,Brainstorming session and plenary.On the 2nd day,topics were: Setting Criteria for Prioritization,Prioritization Exercise,RUHRA 2017-2022:Results of Prioritization,Planning for RUHRA dissemination,funding monitoring and Evaluation of the Regional Consultation.
After thorough review and deliberation of the group,there were eight (8) priority areas created for region 1 under the RUHRA and these were the following: (1) Triple Burden Disease (2) Health of the Vulnerable Populations (3)Drug Discovery and Development (4) Health Technology and Development (5)Food Safety and Nutrition (6) Health Governance and Policies (7) Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals and (8) Health Financing.
The consultation became a good venue for interaction and improved the relations between and among the participants.
Health - and all issues that accompany it - is viewed quite differently from the provincial perspective. To combat a persistent cough, a person from the big city would most likely reach for a pharmacy grade Guaifenesin; a person from the far provinces however, would instead opt for a herbal preparation proven effective through generations of use.
Following this idea, one may begin to identify the many aspects that affect the chemical vs concoction decision-making process in the primary health care, such as accessibility, availability, affordability and acceptability of the cure.
Those aspects however just barely scratch the surface. Should a cheaper variant of the pharmacy cure be developed for the provinces or should a pharmacy drug be developed based on the provincial herbal mixtures? The rise of these questions merits the conduct of research for the development of solutions applicable for both the city and the provincial scene.
Recently, agencies behind the development of the Regional Unified Health Research Agenda (RUHRA) began their provincial consultations to identify the health issues, needs, and concerns of provinces in region IX for 2017 to 2022.
On April 25, local health units in Zamboanga Sibugay gathered to discuss the province's practices with the Departmen of Health (DOH-IX), the Zamboanga Consortium for Health Research and Development (ZCHRD) and the Department of Science and Technology IX (DOST-IX).
The involved agencies focused on Identifying issues and concerns in health systems like governance, financing, workforce, the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT), vulnerabilities and high-risk groups, and the overall health status of the province.
These consultations are scheduled to carry on through Zamboanga City (April 27-28), Zamboanga del Sur (May 2-3), Zamboanga del Norte (May 9-10), and culminate with a regional consultation (May 15-16), which will amalgamate all issues and concerns from the different provinces.
These issues and concerns will be translated into researchable areas / topics, which are then to be combined the RUHRA from other regions around the country, and will be brought up to the national level for a consolidated National Unified Health Research Agenda (NUHRA). (Bon Padayhag, DOST IX Press Release)
SAMAR STATE UNIVERSITY, Catbalogan City, Samar. – From a college thesis, now a commercialized product in-waiting. This is the fate of a computer engineering project of Samar State University in 2013, which has received at least 5 different awards to date, from local to national competition. The biggest was the USAid-STRIDE award worth PhP 1.03M received this month of February 2017.
The device is a system which allows visually impaired people to detect and evade obstacles. It comprises a microcontroller-based embedded design that can measure the distance to the near objects through the use of ultrasonic, which generates high-frequency sound waves and evaluates the echo which is received back by the sensor. When a nearby obstacle is detected, the device notifies the user through a sound and vibration.
In 2014, Ma. Corazon Curiano, ChillaUy, Bryan Garabilis, ArwilRoyandoyan and LeeanIlao, fifth year Computer Engineering students under the advice of Engr. Jon Alvin Macariola developed an Obstacle Detection and Evasion System for Visually Impaired People. This project won as Outstanding Research Project in Samar State University in March 2014 from among the 30 projects in the competition.
In 2015, a fifth year computer engineering student then, Raven Tabiongan, also under the advice of Engr. Macariola, submitted an enhanced version of the project to the 2015 Regional Invention Contest and Exhibits (RICE 2015) under the Creative Research-Sibol Awards (College Category) of which he won.
The project was further enhanced and was submitted for the 2016 National Invention Contest and Exhibits (NICE 2015) competition as Region 8 entry in the same category. This was adjudged second among the entries from other regions. The wearable device for visually impaired people likewise won National Prize for the 2016 Alfredo M. Yao Intellectual Property Awards (AMY National IP Awards).
Late last year, the project was submitted to a technology pitching competition dubbed as SYNERGY 2016. The event was a venue where leaders/enthusiasts in science and technology research and innovation gathered to discuss current and future trends in high-impact sectors and industries. Conducted by the United States Agency for International Development – Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for Development (USAID-STRIDE) in cooperation with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPhil), the group selected the wearable device as the second place winner.
Seeing the potential of the project for commercial application, a grant of PhP 1.03M was awarded to Samar State University (SSU) to further refine the device, specifically on its wearability. Establishment of an industry partner to manufacture said device for commercialization is among the targets of this award.
It is noted that visual impairment is a public health problem, according to World Health Organization (WHO). A 2010 study of the organization says that there are about 285 million visually impaired people, 39 million of them are totally blind. Of the total number, 12.05 million are in South East Asian Region. The study of Saaddine et.al (2003) also explains why it is considered a health problem and how people perceive it to be a threat to the public.
The report further disclosed that visual impairment contributes a large burden in terms of morbidity, quality of life and cost, thereby perceived as threat to the public. Based on the 2011-2016 National Unified Health Research Agenda (NUHRA) of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD), studies and/or projects targeting persons with disabilities (PWD) are not yet among the priority areas for research.
Technologies designed to help ease the lives of PWDs like the wearable device for visually impaired people, are not included in the NHURA and RUHRA. There are, however, efforts to address PWD concerns by the health sector in the Philippines.
In 2013, a Medium Term Strategic Plan (2013-2017) was developed to strengthen the existing health program for PWDs, which may result the inclusion of PWD- related researches in the NUHRA.
DLSHSI’s tuberculosis (TB) and health economics experts are gearing up for the implementation of an important research on TB diagnostics which aims to identify the most cost-effective way of using diagnostic tools to improve detection rates of patients with both TB and its more potent offspring – the multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).
The entire research program, which will run for three years, will cost more than 50 million pesos to support activities of two groups of researchers. Aside from the DLSHSI team, there was also a counterpart team from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) in the United Kingdom. This project is part of the Newton Agham Program or the UK-Philippines Joint Heath Research Grant for Infectious Diseases.
The project, entitled “Impact Assessment of Diagnostic Tools for Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR-TB) and Drug Sensitive Tuberculosis (DS-TB) in the Philippines” is touted as an important component of the Philippine’s fight against TB which continues to be the 6th largest cause of illness and death among Filipinos. While the Philippines, through its National TB Program (NTP), has made great headway in controlling TB infection in the country, detection rates for the more potent MDR-TB is still low. In the province of Cavite, only 35% of suspected MDR-TB cases are actually detected. While this is better compared to the WHO’s global rate of 12%-16%, in the Philippines, the burden of TB is doubly heavy because of the increasing cost of diagnosis and management and most of those infected are poor and rely only on the government’s health infrastructure.
“It is important that we develop appropriate strategies that will help health practitioners provide patients with cost effective options for diagnosis,” says Dr. Charles Yu, the project’s primary investigator. Dr. Yu is a professor at DLSHSI’s College of Medicine and is currently the Vice Chancellor for Lasallian Mission. He is a renowned pulmonologist and expert in TB, especially in the Asia-Pacific region and serves as a WHO consultant on Public-Private Management of the TB DOTS program. He is currently the president of the Global TB Alliance, and is the head of the Asia Pacific Society’s TB assembly. He was also a member of The Union TB Education Working Group.
Dr. Yu was aided by his co-investigators who are among DLSHSI’s noted researchers in TB, infectious diseases, and health economics. The Philippines team is composed of Dr. Victoria Dalay, Dr. Victor Mendoza, Dr. Jovilia Abong, and Ms. Celine Garfin.
Dr. Victoria Dalay is the director for Research Support and Extension Services at DLSHSI’s Angelo King Medical Research Center (DLSHSI-AKMRC) and is the head of DLSHSI’s Programmatic Management of Drug-resistant TB (PMDT) Treatment Center. She is co-chair of the Regional Coordinating Committee that leads the TB Control Program in Region IV-A and helped develop a plan of action to control TB for 2014-2016. She has also been the site investigator for USAID and NIH projects.
Dr. Victor Mendoza is a health economist based at DLSHSI who has published award-winning cost-effectiveness studies in his field of specialization – internal medicine and cardiology.
Dr. Jovilia Abong is an internist with a subspecialty in allergy and clinical immunology. She chairs of the Clinical Epidemiology Department of DLSHSI’s College of Medicine and is the director of Research Administration and Development.
Ms. Garfin is the manager of the Department of Health’s National Program for TB and has published numerous articles on TB surveillance. She is the government’s point person for all TB related activities in the country.
Dr. Yu’s team was complemented by a UK team that was composed of scientists from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, which has been a key partner in the TREAT-TB initiative responsible for impact assessment, as well as health economics and operational modeling.
An expert in Clinical Tropical Medicine, Professor S. Bertel Squire is director of the Center for Applied Health Research and Delivery (CAHRD) of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and past president of The International Union Against TB and Lung Disease. Together with his colleagues at LSTM, Malawi, and China, he has built a program of multi-disciplinary applied health research aimed at providing knowledge for action in making health services for TB more accessible to poor people in developing countries. He was joined in the DLSHSI study by Mr. Ivor Langley, a research analyst at LSTM who is an expert in health systems modeling. Mr. Langley has also been involved in developing an innovative modeling approach for impact assessment of new diagnostic tools and treatments for TB and MDR-TB. The British team is completed by Dr. Elvis Gama, a health economist at LSTM whose current research includes the evaluation of catastrophic costs for patients seeking TB diagnosis and cost effectiveness evaluations of new MDR-TB regimens.
Source: http://www.dlshsi.edu.ph/news/dlshsi-to-spearhead-50m-research-on-tb
Eastern Visayas Health Research and Development Consortium (EVHRDC) conducts an Institutional Visit Cum Research Information Committee (RIC) Meeting last February 2, 2017 at Samar State University (SSU)
Catbalogan City, Samar. February 2, 2017 --- The EVHRDC – RIC members and Committee Chairs together with Ms. Anicia P. Catameo had gathered and conducted its first institutional visit at Samar State University (SSU), Catbalogan Samar.
The SSU had been actively participating the EVHRDC activities for the past several years, hence, SSU has been chosen by the EVHRDC to be visited this CY 2017. The institutional visit aims to promote EVHRDC and be able to come up with health related research studies for possible funding this year.
During the visit, the Orientation on EVHRDC was conducted by Dr. Lucia P. Dauz the EVHRDC Coordinator, then discussed an Overview of the PCHRD/DOH Regional Research Fund (RRF) which was presided by Ms. Catameo and Call for health related research proposals by the EVHRDC staff during the morning. On the other hand, the RIC meeting was held on the afternoon where Committee members of RIC and Committee chairs (ERC, CBC, RMC) had been invited for the reconciliation of CY 2017 Work and Financial Plan (WFP) and other concerns were also discussed.
