Pinoys healthier due to improved system – WHO

MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos are becoming healthier due to improved social conditions and health system boosted by modern technologies, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported yesterday.

In its Philippine Health in Transition (HiT) report launched yesterday, WHO said the health of Filipinos has improved considerably during the second half of the 20th century, and these gains are accelerating.

WHO attributed these to improved social conditions and a strengthened health system with modern technologies.

“Public health interventions delivered by government health services are achieving universal coverage and sophisticated curative interventions are available in major metropolitan areas,” WHO said in the HiT report.

The global health agency, however, noted that the rise in the cases of non-communicable diseases and increasing populations in remote areas continue to pose challenges for the health system.

The Philippine HiT report is a comprehensive review of the country’s health system and policy reforms that provides easy access to relevant and timely information for policy makers and analysts.

The HiT report covers a wide scope of topics, including the organization and governance of the health system, health care financing, physical and human resources, health services delivery mechanisms, and the principal directions in health sector reform.

Shin Young-soo, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, said the launching of the Philippines HiT is a milestone in health system analysis in the Asia Pacific region.

“HiTs allow policy-makers to understand what’s working well with their health systems, where the challenges are, and how it compares to other countries,” Shin said.

The Philippine report is the Observatory’s second HiT report, the first being the Fiji HiT, released in June 2011.

The HiTs are based on a template also used by the European Observatory, and help build a global body of comparable data.

HiTs are underway in many other countries, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong (China), Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Thailand and Tonga. –Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)