Stakeholders in health and health-related systems in the country gathers today in Bacolod City, for the 5th Philippine National Health Research Systems (PNHRS) Week Conference with the theme "Convergence in Divergence, Innovations for Better Health." There will be discussions on research utilization and health research. Highlights of the conference include the launching of the Health Innovation Marketplace and the awarding of winners for the Best Mentor and Poster Exhibit.
The PNHRS was created by virtue of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) and the Department of Health (DoH) signed on March 17, 2003, on the anniversary of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD). It is part of a global movement espoused by the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) to establish national health research systems in country settings.
It is anchored on the principles of the Essential National Health Research, which are inclusiveness, participation, quality, equity, efficiency, and effectiveness. Among the objectives of the PNHRS are to promote and enhance cooperation between and among the organizations and networks within it to share and pool resources; develop capacities for knowledge production, use and management, research management, and financing; and deliver solutions with greater impact on the pressing health problems of our country.
The celebration of the annual Philippine National Health Research Systems Week serves as a venue to review relevant policies and practices and assess how health researchers undertaken can better address the needs of the country by involving end-users and other stakeholders.
Considering that many of our health problems are intricately woven with the phenomenon of poverty, climate change, rising population, environmental degradation, and globalization, among others, it is hoped that the conference will pave the way to achieving more concrete and appropriate solutions to health-related problems plaguing our country and region today.
source: Manila Bulletin