EVHRDC members attended the 31st PCHRD Anniversary celebrations held at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza, CCP Complex, Metro Manila last March 18, 2013. The one day event was focused on the theme "People at the Center of Health and Health Research" with former Health Secretary Dr. Alfredo G. Romualdez,Jr., as the keynote speaker. To welcome the guests, Dr. Jaime C. Montoya, PCHRD Executive Director, started thanking everyone who attended the ceremonies and to all partners who have strived hard in achieving the goals of the council and the health research system as a whole. He also happily announced that the Philippines will be hosting the forthcoming "2014 Global Forum for Health Research".
A message was given by Secretary Mario G. Montejo, DOST Secretary, where he congratulated PCHRD on its 31st year of unwavering efforts to develop the health research system. He mentioned some initiatives of DOST on health. He focused on gadgets with its application accessible through the internet. On of this is the RX Box, which allows consultation through the net where doctors in the hinter barangay could seek assistance from doctor specialists through email or through texting. Another message was delivered by Secretary Enrique T. Ona, DOH Secretary, who stressed on the sustainability of the program "Kalusugang Pangkalahatan or Universal Health Care". He stressed that it is important to gather evidences of success as these are crucial in policy making. Furthermore, he stressed that the Philippines can learn from best practices in other countries and with some modifications apply these learnings. On of the new initiatives towards mobilizing funds for research was done by downloading these funds to PCHRD who managed the funds. Another DOH initiative is the establishment of a Health Research Hub at DOH currently chaired by Dr. Ernesto Domingo. This will hopefully capacitate DOH staff to conduct research and eventually manage its own research funds to the fullest.
The keynote message was given by the 1st Executive Director of PCHRD, Dr. Alberto G. Romualdez. He walked through the history of PCHRD which started with 5 brains who formulated the health research agenda with bias on human beings. He was delighted of the many initiatives done by PCHRD through the years just to move research forward. He also acknowledged the presence of the Academician Gelia Castillo (who was supposedly the one who would have delivered the keynote address but preferred to just be a reactor to the different topics lined up for the day). He ended his message by congratulating the men and women of PCHRD for the countless accomplishments of the council sustaining the efforts in health R&D.
The Panel discussion that followed were on: 1) People's Health: Listening and translating Health Needs to Research Actions; 2) Research Actions: Improving research utilization by increasing research publishing productivity and International Visibility; and 3) New paradigms and global trends in research publications: how Philippine research benefits.
The activity was attended by Health Research Consortium Members, PNHRS Members, SUCs, National Government Agencies Representatives, Private Organizations and Private Individuals.