Drowning kills 372 000 people yearly worldwide and is a serious public health issue in the Philippines. This study aims to determine if the drowning death rates in the Philippine Health Statistics (PHS) reports from 1980 to 2011 were underestimated. A retrospective descriptive study was conducted to describe the trend of deaths caused by drowning in the Philippines from official and unofficial sources in the period 1980 to 2011. Information about deaths related to cataclysmic causes, particularly victims of storms and floods, and maritime accidents in the Philippines during the study period were reviewed and compared with the PHS drowning death data. An average of 2496 deaths per year caused by drowning were recorded in the PHS reports from 1980 to 2011 (range 671-3656). The average death rate was 3.5/100 000 population (range 1.3-4.7). An average of 4196 drowning deaths were recorded from 1980 to 2011 (range 1220 to 8788) when catacylsmic events and maritime accidents were combined with PHS data. The average death rate was 6/100 000 population (range 2.5-14.2). Our results showed that on average there were 1700 more drowning deaths per year when deaths caused by cataclysms and maritime accidents were added to the PHS data. This illustrated that drowning deaths were underestimated in the official surveillance data. Passive surveillance and irregular data management are contributing to underestimation of drowning in the Philippines. Additionally, deaths due to flooding, storms and maritime accidents are not counted as drowning deaths, which further contributes to the underestimation. Surveillance of drowning data can be improved using more precise case definitions and a multisectoral approach.

OBJECTIVE:To describe the knowledge, attitudes and practices of parents in an urban coastal community on drowning prevention.
METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used in the study. Systematic random sampling was used and 431 parents were included as respondents in the study. A questionnaire that was developed and pre-tested was used to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices on drowning prevention among parents in households with at least one child.
RESULTS: The respondents' knowledge on general aspects of drowning such as its preventability and to whom and where it could happen seems to be sufficient (67-99%). Awareness of drowning prevention programs and activities in the barangay is quite low, and awareness of any legislation is even lower. The respondents seem to have positive attitudes toward supervising children while swimming or playing in high risk areas, in buying and wearing flotation devices, and participating in drowning prevention measures. Although 60 % claimed to have supervised their children while swimming in the sea, river, lake or swimming pools, more respondents (67 % - 88%) had admitted that their children had never worn flotation devices when they swim or play in most bodies of water. More than 93% of the parents have not participated in any program or activity on drowning prevention.
CONCLUSIONS: The study seems to show that, in the surveyed coastal community, there is a high level of knowledge in terms of the general aspects of drowning and there are positive attitudes in terms of measures and activities to prevent drowning. However, this has not translated to similarly appropriate levels of drowning prevention practices.

Human ; Male ; Female ; Aged ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Attitude ; Awareness ; Child ; Cross-sectional Studies ; Drowning ; Family Characteristics ; Lakes ; Parents ; Rivers ; Surveys And Questionnaires ; Swimming ; Swimming Pools ; Water ; Knowledge ; Attitude

The key areas for PEN implementation included using the PEN approach to restore service delivery and management in primary health care facilities in Region 8, training health workers on PEN implementation and providing required materials and PEN implementation tools. Monitoring visits that included supportive supervision were also conducted in primary health care facilities in six provinces in Region 8. These assessed the use of the PEN protocols, availability of PEN implementation tools and whether the implementation targets for Region 8 had been met.

Disasters complicate the management of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) by disrupting access to and delivery of health care, including medicines. Following Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in November 2013, much of the health infrastructure was destroyed and health service delivery was severely affected. This left many people with NCDs vulnerable as medicines were destroyed or washed away, food was scarce, and access to medicines and drugs and quality health care was difficult.

OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to provide concise background information regarding the state of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors as well as the existing efforts to address them in the Philippines in the last 25 years.

METHODS: A desk review of documents and literature review as well as analyses of available statistical data and several consultations with involved government agencies have been made to come up with summary figures and tables.

RESULTS: NCDs as well as metabolic conditions that can potentially lead to NCDs are on the rise in the last score of years. The Philippines, through the Department of Health, has been visionary in leading various projects and activities to fight NCDs over the last two decades, and its efforts are slowly paying off: the prevalence of tobacco use and that of hypertension have decreased over the last 5 years. NCD mortality (including premature deaths) and prevalence of behavioral risk factors, however, generally remain high, and the Philippines needs to accelerate whole-of-society and whole-of-government actions to sustain the gains and attain its NCD targets in the next 10 years or so.

CONCLUSION: The need to strengthen health system interventions and promote accountability of various sectors in addressing NCDs and its risk factors in the country arises. The development of a multisectoral action plan on NCD prevention and control is needed to halt the rise of NCDs in the country.

Human ; Male ; Female ; Health Systems Plans ; Delivery of Health Care

The use of child restraints such as car seats or booster seats inevitability increases with the implementation of laws mandating its use in the general public. This is of great importance to child health and injury prevention as child restraint use has been shown to reduce the risk of serious injury by 71% to 82% for children less than 1-year-old, and 45% for children aged 4 to 8 years old.2,3 In terms of averting death, child restraints were associated with 28% reduction in risk for death.4 It has been found that using ageand size-appropriate child restraints is the best way to save lives and reduce injuries in a crash.5 It is reasonable, therefore, that one study that investigated the association between child restraint law implementation and traffic injury rate among 4 to 6 years old children in New York State found that these children experienced an 18% reduction in traffic injury rate. (See full-text for continuation).
Human ; Child Preschool (a Child Between The Ages Of 2 And 5) ; Pediatrics