MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, June 5 (PIA) -- The Department of Health
of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DOH-ARMM) will launch on
Monday, 08 June, the national government’s high impact strategies that “can
improve health outcomes.”
Kadil Sinolinding, ARMM’s Health secretary, said the department will conduct the Universal Health Care High Impact Five (UHC-HI-5) Summit for ARMM “to produce the greatest improvements in health outcomes and the highest impact on the population within a short period of implementation.”
“UHC-HI-5 is a strategy that focuses on five critical universal health care interventions such as prioritizing the poor, providing tangible outputs, which are felt within a breakthrough period of 15 months through synchronized implementation of activities,” Sec. Sinolinding said.
For the rest of 2015, he said, DOH-ARMM will focus on five universal health care programs that are directed towards reduction of maternal deaths, improved infant health and reduced infant deaths, improved children’s health under five years old, combat human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and malaria and other diseases, and implement a service delivery network in all areas of the region.
DOH-ARMM will implement a series of activities to meet and pool stakeholders to reach the targets for the health sector.
Official data showed that in 2008, ARMM documented 245 maternal
mortalities in every 100,000 live births. There were also 55 infant mortalities
in every 1,000 live births.
These figures were greatly reduced in 2013 with only 51 maternal mortalities per 100,000 live births and 32 infant mortalities per 1,000 live births. As of 2013, the Philippine Statistics Authority said the country was beyond the targets for under-five years old and infant mortality rates, at 12.7 and 8.7 child deaths per 1,000 live births.
In 2014, ARMM was recognized as the most improved region in reducing maternal and infant mortality under the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
In the first quarter of 2015, DOH-ARMM reported 17 cases of HIV/AIDS
in the region; two cases were recorded within the said quarter. Data from the
DOH central office shows that for this year, 21 such cases are recorded on a
daily basis.
From 2009 to the first quarter of 2015, there are already 15,760 cases of malaria in the region – 39 were reported this year. Sec. Sinolinding said, through the pipeline strategies of the Health department, they will seek to address these issues. He added these activities will help in the objective of “bringing in better health services to every family in the region, down to the barangay level.”
Nemesio Gako, DOH central office undersecretary, is expected to arrive here for Monday’s HI-5 Health Summit at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex in Cotabato City.
The summit targets to
gather governors, mayors, local government units’ committees on health, members
of the Regional Legislative Assembly, provincial, city and municipal health
officers, chiefs of hospitals, Islamic scholars, regional line agencies and
health development partners, among others. (BPI/APB/PIA-10)
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