Lessons on Participatory Governance for Health presented at the 4th PHE Conference

Stories

August 17, 2011

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Lessons on TB Control-Focused Participatory Governance for Health (PG4Health) presented at the 4th Population, Health and Environment Conference 
 
CODE-NGO shared its experiences and lessons from its project with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) on “Linking Initiatives and Networking to Control Tuberculosis (TB LINC)” at the 4th Population, Health and Environment Conference in General Santos City held last July 27-29, 2011.  

Ester Isberto, LGU Advocacy Specialist of the PBSP TB LINC Project, highlighted the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach to controlling tuberculosis – which involves various national government agencies, LGUs, private sector, civil society groups and communities – and having such structures at the local and national levels.  Roselle Rasay of CODE-NGO presented the results of its project with PBSP TB LINC on advocating for sectoral TB agenda (particularly surfacing the health issues of indigenous peoples and agrarian reform communities) and documenting models of NGO community involvement in TB control. Rosemarie Herrera of HealthDev Institute presented the PG4Health framework, stressing that a CSO engagement towards better health governance must be rights-based (health as a right and responsibility of the individual and his/her community), evidence based (advocacy is based on evidences and actual contributions to health program targets) and participatory (involves the communities in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating health interventions).  

Among the key lessons and recommendations of CODE-NGO, based on its PG4Health experience in the TB LINC project are the following: 
  • Marginalized groups are still beyond the effective reach of health services. Traditional service delivery systems (e.g. facility-based) may not apply to certain sectors such as the indigenous peoples (IPs) and geographically isolated and depressed areas (GIDA). Alternative health service delivery systems should be further studied and supported.  
  • Health is a basic right and responsibility of the individual and his/her community. Community organizing for health is important and should be further supported. 
  • LGUs are the key drivers for health at the local levels.  LCEs need to be helped to appreciate that a good health program is good politics. CSOs need to engage LCEs in developing their local health development framework and plans. 
  • Since health is a basic concern of the communities we serve, CSOs should build their capacities for evidence-based health advocacy and integrate this into our core programs. 
During the open forum, conference participants brought up insightful questions and recommendations about the topic, including the following: 
  • status of TB in youth and children and the urgency to address this concern, 
  • the need to monitor distribution of TB drugs from the national to the local levels, 
  • the value of applying an integrated population, health and environment framework in a PG4Health intervention (which is strongly evident, for example, in an urban poor setting or among indigenous communities), and 
  • other examples of CSO initiatives were cited on an integrated health initiative, with livelihood, education and gender awareness components (e.g. by E-WISE in Laguna). 
PBSP TB LINC’s Chief of Party Dr. Dolores Castillo was also present to respond to inquiries and comments from the audience.  She explained the project’s plans for its extension year – particularly in expanding project interventions in some urban centers and institutionalizing the collaborative mechanisms among various stakeholders at national and local levels.  – by Roselle Rasay, CODE-NGO Program Specialist for Membership.
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