Philippine indigenous peoples now have access to quality health care services

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 3, 2012) – The National Commission on the Indigenous Peoples has began preparing for the full implementation of Indigenous Peoples Maternal, Neonatal, Child Health and Nutrition Project (IP MNCHN Project) in selected provinces in the southern Philippines.

The project, funded by the European Union, will run from 2012 up to 2016 and It also involves the United Nations Population Fund which is a major implementing partner on concerns of reproductive health.

“The challenge to improve access to quality health care services for the Indigenous Peoples has grown very enormous that all of us in the health and IP sectors need to be involved and caring,” IP MNCHN project director Dr. Lilibeth Malabanan said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.

“While we hope that a sustainable and encompassing government health programs and services can eventually reach the Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICC) in the far flung areas of Mindanao, we see the immediacy of our actions and concrete responses to such concerns,” she said.

Malabanan said the overall objective of the project is to contribute to a significant, sustainable improvement in maternal and child health towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals in Mindanao.

“More specifically, we will be working on improving access to and utilisation of quality essential reproductive health services in selected IIC/IP and other disadvantaged communities in Mindanao through a comprehensive and culturally acceptable implementation of the national Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health and Nutrition strategy,” Malabanan said.

“The succeeding years for the project will be very labor extensive as we will do baseline studies, capability building among ICC/IP and stakeholders from LGUs and government agencies, access building to quality health care, and synergies among Indigenous Peoples Organizations and other Civil Society Organizations,” she added. –Mindanao Examiner