Barefoot Doctors Fill Void of Gov’t Neglect 

Many health professionals go abroad but nowadays many still go back to school to take up nursing or caregiving for a guaranteed work overseas. There remains a glimmer of hope: a number of dedicated health professionals go to remote rural areas to take part in community-based health programs – and train barrio health workers.

BY JAZMIN A. JERUSALEM

Contributed to Bulatlat

Mano Timy prepares his acupuncture needles with care and precision. In the twilight of Canbagit, a mountain barrio in Calbiga town, Samar, central Philippines, farmers are already waiting their turn to have patusok or acupuncture sessions. Common ailments like cough, fever, muscle pains, head and stomach aches and diarrhea have been cured through these acupuncture treatments. A steadily increasing number of barrio folk are being treated, and the news is spreading like wildfire in the communities.

Mano Timy is one of the community health workers (CHW) who have been trained in basic health skills and acupuncture. He gives free acupuncture sessions and is also active in health education for the community. 

In this far-flung barrio, poor peasants appreciate the healing powers of acupuncture when compared to Western medicine which the poor cannot afford. The nearest health center in town is some 18 kms away – reachable through a river and mountain trails not accessible to vehicles.  

Community-based health

2003 saw the launching of the Leyte Center for Development’s (LCDE) community-based health program for some 200 peasant families in three mountain barrios of Calbiga. Foremost among the goals of the health program was to develop CHWs and organize health committees in these barangays which could look after the basic health needs of the villagers.

The community-based health approach is founded on the principles of self-reliance, building upon the local people’s initiatives and promotion of traditional medicine. It is meant to respond to the health problems in poor communities and enable the people to take care of their own health needs.

LCDE has been in existence since 1988 and is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its program services have covered 107 barangays in 27 municipalities throughout Eastern Visayas. There have been at least 15,000 individual beneficiaries who have availed of LCDE’s services.

Before 2003, LCDE’s main program included relief and rehabilitation and capability-building to the vulnerable sectors in the region. It has organized various relief operations, medical missions and livelihood support to poor peasant and fisherfolk communities in Leyte and Samar.  

Empowering health workers

LCDE’s community-based health program is a breakthrough in the agency’s socio-economic support services. Since the start of the health program, trainings on Basic Health Skills have been held in the communities with at least 30 participants in each barangay. The seminars, conducted by volunteer doctors, nurses and other health workers imparted knowledge on National and Local Health Situation; Herbal Medicine Preparation; Diagnosis/Home Remedies of Common Ailments; Physical Examination/Vital Signs; Leadership; Environmental Sanitation and Hygiene; Health Campaign Management; Nutrition, Ventusa (Chinese form of healing); Control of Diarrhea.

A special training on “Acupuncture” was also done in October 2004 which was participated in by LCDE’s beneficiaries and network organizations. The acupuncture training was in line with LCDE’s promotion and advocacy of traditional medicine, rather than commercial, western medicine.   

So far, LCDE has trained 35 CHW trainees able to initially conduct diagnosis/treatment of common diseases, take vital signs and impart topics on basic health skills. Several residents of the three communities, as well as those from neighboring barrios, have been relieved of common ailments due to acupuncture sessions by LCDE staff and CHW’s.

Health professionals for the poor

Malou Baylon, LCDE’s registered nurse and health program coordinator said, “It is our mission to bring basic health services to the poor farmers and create machineries wherein sustainability is ensured long after LCDE pulls out from a barrio. The community-based health program is the most effective tool to bringing health care to the grassroots. The enthusiasm of our clients provides us with enough inspiration to see us through the difficulties that go with project implementation.”

For her part, Dr. Elvie Prejula, a CBHP practitioner and LCDE consultant, said, “Our country’s health situation is indeed in a pitiful state. This is reflected in the low priority given to the health sector in the annual preparation of the national government budget. Another indicator is the appalling plight of the country’s 74,000 public health workers.”

“The health sector’s budget allocation has declined from 1.62 percent in 2003 to just 1.51 percent in 2004. The share in the total national budget has been on a downtrend in the last eight years. Public health expenditures fall way below the standards set by the World Health Organization. The international agency recommends that at least 5 percent of the gross national product should be allocated for health in order to ensure the provision of basic health services to the citizenry,” she added, quoting data from the International Conference on Health Amidst Globalization and War.

Malou Baylon added, “It is ironic that so many health professionals choose to work abroad when majority of our people are deprived of basic health care. One can easily understand the option given the meager wages in the country. Those of us in the health profession must constantly be true to our call - serving those who need our care.”

With the community-based health program organizing, coupled with dedicated health professionals like Prejula and Baylon, LCDE is set to sustain its health services for the poor and vulnerable communities. Bulatlat 

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