Project News

The exchange of study tours with JICA Project in Eastern Visayas, "Project for Strengthening of Maternal and Child Health Services" (SMACHS-EV) was one of our project activities aimed to disseminate nationwide the lessons and good practices learned and earned by the Project, and furthermore, to learn from similar project.

We received two batches from SMACHS-EV Project in Abra on June 23-25 and July 7-9, 2015. The total number of the participants was 42, composed of the Provincial Health Officer (PHO) of Leyte, City Health Officer of Ormoc City, Municipal Health Officers (MHOs), District Health Nurses, Barangay Captain, City Councilor, Midwives, Section Chief and the technical staff of RO8 Technical assistance and Management Section of Ormoc City as well as other health workers from both Leyte and Ormoc City.

The tours visited health facilities, such as Abra Provincial Hospital, San Juan Rural Health Unit (RHU), Villaviciosa RHU, and Dolores Medicare and Community Hospital. Visit to the component municipalities of VPP Inter Local Health Zone (ILHZ) and DOLASAN ILHZ, and interviews with local chief executives were also in the itinerary.

The Province of Abra, one of our project target sites, presented to the tours the good practices as follows: 1) good antenatal care (ANC) in areas of difficult access, 2) formulation of the barangay emergency transportation/communication system, 3) high rate of referral feedback, 4) opening of a bank account for the Common Health Trust Fund (CHTF) of the ILHZ and 5) involvement of the barangay captain as an active member of the CHT. The tour participants were particularly interested in the highly motivated Community Health Teams (CHTs), strong governance of ILHZs, and supportive attitude of the local officials.

In turn, on August 3-6, 2015, health managers of Cordillera formed a study tour group and visited Eastern Visayas to learn from SMACHS-EV Project. The 19 delegates were from all 6 provinces including DOH-CAR office, composed of PHO, Maternal Newborn and Child Health and Nutrition (MNCHN) Coordinator, MHO, Provincial Department of Health (DOH) personnel, the Regional Licensing Officer. This tour had three objectives to observe and learn, namely, 1) Implementation of the supportive supervision system for their BEmONC facilities, 2) Conduct of maternal and neonatal death review (MNDR) at zonal level and 3) Recovery from the typhoon Yolanda.

"I am thankful to Japan International Cooperation Agency and DOH-CAR office for taking me as delegate to the study tour in Eastern Visayas" says Dr. Mary Josephine Dulawan, the Provincial Health Officer of Ifugao Province. She added that because of the activity, a unique opportunity was given for them to learn about how to operationalize the quality and sustained emergency obstetric and newborn care services including the partnership and networking at the zonal level.

After the tour the delegates submitted their documented replication points for them to implement in their respective provinces. Major points are as follows:

SSV: 1) Sustainability of the monitoring and supervision visit through provincial and ILHZ's resolution, 2) Regular conduct of SSV at the zonal level, 3) Conduct of post-conference with concerned supervised personnel, and 4) Monitoring on the result of identified action areas.

MNDR: 1) Regular conduct with representation from the Provincial Review team, 2) Inclusion of private hospitals and clinics during MNDR, 3) Preparation and monitoring on the agreements arose during MNDR, and 4) Presentation of clinical updates regarding the case by consultants.

San Juan Mayor Marco M. Bautista (in white polo shirt) explaining the important roles of Local Chief Exectives in the ILHZ program of the project and in any health program of every municipality.

A male nurse from Leyte Provincial Hospital discusses some points on Supportive Supervision System of their BEmONC facilities to the delegates of the study tour.