To blot another year of success, the country’s health research community commemorated its 11th Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) Week on 24-25 August 2017 at Philippine International Convention Center, Pasay City, Metro Manila. It is a gathering of different stakeholders in health research and development to contribute research-based solutions to health problems.
With the theme “Research and Innovations in Health: Empowering and Transforming Communities,” this year’s celebration emphasizes the roles, challenges, and opportunities of health research and innovation in reaching, empowering, and transforming the Filipino communities.
Pre-conference sessions such as Ethics, Society of Health Research Communicators (SHARE) Assembly, Research Workshop, eHealth Summit, National consultation on the development of Technical Review Board Manual, meeting of various PNHRS Committees, Meeting of the Regional Health Research and Development Consortia Secretariat, and Health Research and Development for Disaster Program Review were also made on 22-23 August 2017 at Hotel Jen Manila.
Plenary and parallel sessions was also made that revolved around key areas including National Unified Health Research Agenda (NUHRA), Drug Addiction and Mental Health, Islands of Wealth and Wellness, Health of Marawi: the Psychosocial and Health Concerns of Internally Displaced Persons in areas with armed conflicts, presentation of contributed papers such as 6A: Alternative Gender-Aware Indices for Measuring Poverty: Implications for Healthcare for the Poor and Innovative Strategy Towards Sustainable Control and Elimination of Schistosomiasis in the Philippines.
This 4 day event was joined by over 1,300 participants from all over the country reaching its aim of providing a platform for the different stakeholders in health research and development to interact, learn from each other, share information and experiences, voice their concerns, and to add research-based solution to health problems.
The Eastern Visayas Health Research and Development Consortium (EVHRDC) participated in the 11th Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) week celebration held on August 24-25, 2017 at Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), Pasay City. The momentous occasion was spearheaded by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). The celebration is a gathering of different stakeholders in health research and development to contribute research-based solutions to health problems.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Research and Innovations in Health: Empowering and Transforming Communities,” which focuses on the roles, challenges, and opportunities of health research and innovation in reaching, empowering, and transforming the marginalized Filipino communities.
The activity started with pre-conference sessions at Hotel Jen Manila. On August 22, 2017, morning, the Ethics, and Society of Health Research Communicators (SHARE) Assembly Journal Publishing was conducted simultaneously. In the afternoon of the same day, a Coordinators & Staff Meeting, and SHARE Organizational Meeting/Communication Planning was also conducted. On August 23, 2017, a Technical Review Board (TRB) National Consultative Meeting on TRB Manual was held, to gather inputs and insights of the different consortium in order to finalize the Manual of Operations. There were other parallel sessions being conducted in other rooms at Hotel Jen Manila.
Moreover, sixteen (16) delegates From EVHRDC were among the attendees of the activity, and four (4) different committees (Research Management, Research Information, Capability Building, and Structure, Organization, Monitoring & Evaluation) were represented, including the EVHRDC staff. We were also proud to have Mr. Renz Prudenciado, contestant from Leyte Normal University (LNU), for the National Poster Exhibit Contest, Student Category, to join us in representing the region for the said event.
The Philippine National Health Research System and Philippine National Ethics Board launches the 2017 National Ethical Guidelines for Health and Health-Related Research last August 24, 2017 at PICC, Pasay City, Metro Manila during the 11th PNHRS Week Celebration.
During the PNHRS Pre-conference session entitled, Emerging Issues in Research Ethics, Dr. Marita V.T. Reyes discussed the introduction and highlighted the new provisions to the National Ethical Guidelines for health and Health-Related Research.
Two hundred copies of the said handbook were produced and was distributed during the launching. PHREB apologizes to attendees that due to the limited copies produced, only the accredited RECs will be given a copy and only one per institution.
PHREB guarantees that the copy of the 2017 national ethical guidelines is readily available for download at their website http://www.ethics.healthresearch.ph/
(BCHRD/Kevin Capoles)
The study entitled "Prevalence of Leptospira in Abattoir Workers, Slaughtered Animals and Abattoir Environment in Cavite, Philippines" by Dr. Norbel A. Tabo of the De La Salle University-Dasmarinas was awarded 1st place in the 11th Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) Oral Research Presentation, Professional Category. This was held on August 24-25, 2017 at the Philippine International Convention Center, Pasay City. This is the HRDCR IV-A's first 1st place at the PNHRS Oral Research Presentation. Below is the abstract of the study.
ABSTRACT
Leptospirosis is known to be endemic in the Philippines with disease incidence that peaks during rainy season or after heavy rains in flood-prone areas. During summer, occupationally at-risk groups such as farmers, abattoir workers, and garbage collectors are affected. Strategies to prevent and control leptospirosis have been done for years yet the number of cases continues to be high. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of antibodies to Leptospira among abattoir workers and slaughtered animals, and Leptospira serovars in slaughtered animals and abattoir environment in Cavite, Philippines.Serum samples obtained from 46 abattoir workers and 69 slaughtered animals were subjected to microscopic agglutination test (MAT). The MAT-screening positive sera were further subjected to MAT quantitation with a cut-off titer of 400 in humans and 20 in animals. The urine of 69 slaughtered animals and 72 environmental samples were subjected to culture. Culture-positive samples were subjected to rrl-PCR, flaB-PCR and serotyping using monoclonal/polyclonal antibodies.
The results showed that 15.2% of abattoir workers in selected abattoirs of Cavite province were positive for Leptospira-agglutinating antibodies, that reacted with serovars Canicola, Hurtsbridge, Losbanos, Poi and Ratnapura. These workers were assigned in dehairing, abattoir cleaning and butchering of pigs, and gut removal, gut cleaning, hide removal, and butchering in cows. On the other hand, the overall Leptospira-seropositivity in slaughtered animals was 58.0%, 61.7% of which was in pigs and 33.3% in cows. The most frequently occurring serovar in pigs was Poi with 38.3%, followed by Icterohaemorrhagiae strain Ictero No. 1 (18.3%), Copenhageni (16.7%), Semaranga (10.0%) and Icterohaemorrhagiae strain RGA (8.3%). However, the most frequently occurring serovar in cows was Poi (22.2%).Twenty five percent (18/72) of the environmental samples were positive for Leptospira. Of these, 5 samples were positive for flaB-PCR. These samples were considered as pathogenic and were observed in Noveleta, Imus City and Bacoor City abattoir. Of the five pathogenic isolates, one isolate reacted with serogroup Grippotyphosa while the remaining four isolates did not react with any of the monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. On the other hand, none of the 69 urine samples were positive for culture.
The presence of common serovars at the interface of both abattoir workers-slaughtered animals, and slaughtered animals-abattoir environment could indicate continual source of leptospires and could pose problems on human health. These serovars could be potential candidates for the development of vaccines and diagnostic tests.
Members of the Health Research and Development Consortium Region IV-A once again attended and participated in this year’s Philippine National Health Research System Week (PNHRS) Week with the theme “Research and Innovations in Health: Empowering and Transforming Communities”. PNHRS Week is celebrated every second week of August by virtue of Proclamation No. 1309. Pre-conferences were held on 22-23 August 2017 among which are the following: SHARE: Rallying Communicators for Science, Technology and Innovation in Health attended by the team of Prof. Susan Sta. Ana, Chair of HRDCR IV-A Committee on Research Utilization. SHARE stands for Society of Health Research Communicators; it is a community of communicators who share health research stories, advocacies and local and national initiatives; Emerging Issues in Research Ethics attended by the members of the Ethics Committee members; A national consultation on the development of technical review board manual for Regional Health Research and Development Consortia (RHRDC) – the development of the said manual aims to simplify the processes and documentation of the RHRDC-Research Management Committees operations while maintaining high standards, transparency and accountability.
Also included in the week’s celebration were the Inter-regional Oral Paper Presentation and Poster Exhibit Contest of completed research papers (Professional and Student Category). Dr. Norbel Tabo of De La Salle University-Dasmarinas (DLSU-D) won the 1st prize in the oral research presentation for his study entitled “Prevalence of Leptospira in Abattoir Workers, Slaughtered Animals and Abattoir Environment in Cavite, Philippines”. For the student oral research presentation, the study entitled “Hypoglycemic Potential of Coffea canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner (ROBUSTA) Fruit Pulp Extract in Alloxan-induced Diabetic Rats” won the 3rd prize. The study was presented by Ms. Frances Diane P. Gelle of DLSU-D. On the other hand, a research from De La Salle Health Sciences Institute entitled “Antiangiogenic Properties of Ethanolic Extract of Ipomoea batatas (Sweet Potatoes) Peeling” by Ms. Joane D. Bañez and Jannah Meara J. Baybay was chosen as finalist in the student poster category.
The event also highlighted the Consortia Exhibit that featured the RHRDC’s activities and the fellowship night which showcased the country’s rich cultural diversity depicted through dance numbers made by the members and staff of RHRDCs.
Tacloban City, August 16, 2017 --- Department of Education Regional Office VIII (DepEdRO8) launches the Superkid Linis Lusog Scholl Caravan for school year 2017-2018 last August 15, 2017 at the Oriental Hotel, Palo, Leyte with Department of Health (DOHRO8), Department of Education (DepEd) and Rescope Communication, Inc.
The campaign aims to increase awareness among the school population on developing the habit of handwashing as a basic health or hygiene practice that can prevent infectious diseases.
The caravan had two (2) major activities: a) Pilot Launching of Continuing Health Education for Teachers (CHET) last August 15, 2017 at Oriental Hotel, Palo, Leyte. CHET is an annual assembly that aims to provide updates and new trends relevant to school health. The event was attended by almost 700 school personnel from DepEd Region 8. b) The Superkid School Caravan Proper, that will be conducted in 304 identified school in the 13 school divisions. The activity includes the Superkid Cartoon Video Showing, Superkid Handwashing, Superkid Ball Relay, and Superkid Handwashing Champion Oath taking. Activity started last August 7, 2017 up to September 29, 2017.
Last August 15-17, 2017, the Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in coordination with Pasteur Institute of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam organized the 3rd International Conference on Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease at Premiera Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The theme of the conference was "Global Challenges in Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Disease". It focused on three major issues in public health namely: Vaccination, Antimicrobial Drug Resistance and Zoonoses.
The keynote speech was delivered by Dr. Cheong Chee Kheong of Ministry of Health, Malaysia. He emphasized the importance of series of discussions among scientists, academicians and technologists on various aspects of combating new threats in emerging and reemerging diseases. More than 200 scientists from 15 countries participated in the event. Of which more than 40 researchers presented their papers.
Undersecretary of Department of Health Dr. Gerardo V. Bayugo presented the Philippines' Experience on Zika virus while Dr. Norbel A. Tabo of De La Salle University-Dasmarinas presented his PCHRD-funded research titled "Prevalence of Leptospira in abbatoir workers, slaughtered animals and abbatoir environment in Cavite, Philippines".
Dr. Tabo focused his discussion on the continual source of leptospires and the presence of common serovars in abbatoir worker-slaughtered animal-abbatoir environment interface could pose problems on human health. The serovars identified could be potential candidates for the development of vaccines and diagnostic tests.
The conference provided an avenue for researchers to search for solutions to problems not only on drug discoveries but also on strategies combatting new biological threats.
