PURPOSE: Primary Health Care (PHC) refers to essential health care that is made accessible, acceptable and affordable to individuals and families in the community. As such, it is imperative for PHC providers to possess the necessary competencies responsive to the current health care demands. This study aims to determine the current capacity of PHC providers and their need for capability building. METHODS: The study employed a quantitative descriptive design with 87 purposively-selected PHC providers and five administrators from selected rural municipalities in Cavite. It is adapted from the study, “Capacity-building of primary healthcare providers in 10+3 Southeast and East Asian Nursing Education and Research Network (SEANERN) countries”. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS: The perceived level of knowledge of the PHC providers on the elements of PHC were all rated to be proficient. Maternal and child care received the highest score, while health education received the lowest score. The perceived level of skills of the PHC providers was also rated to be proficient. Sanitation and water received the highest score, while treatment of common diseases and injuries received the lowest score. Similar to the perceived levels of knowledge and skills, the perceived level of attitudes of the PHC providers were also proficient, with environmental sanitation having the highest score but treatment of common diseases and injuries having the lowest score. However, from the perspective of health administrators, they rated the PHC providers one level lower or needs minimal support. Training and capacity building in all elements of PHC was identified as the most needed by the PHC providers. Their most preferred method of training is workshop. CONCLUSIONS There are high perceived levels of knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the PHC providers in the elements of PHC. Despite the high scores, objective outcomes such as the MMR and immunization coverage do not reflect the proficient scores of the PHC providers. There are also other health conditions and issues such as noncommunicable diseases and injuries that need to be addressed using PHC approach. Given this, it is vital that appropriate training and adequate hiring of PHC providers be reinforced nationwide in order to meet the health goals and needs of the country.
Capacity Building

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Nurses have a pivotal role in nurturing the capabilities of individuals, families, and population groups for better health. However, underserved communities in the Philippines, such as those with socioeconomic inadequacies, geographic isolation, and service access problems, have significant limitations in attaining the highest possible level of health. Hence, a community extension service (Project “Lusog-Linang”), employing community-engaged research, was launched with the residents of an underserved locality in Central Luzon. The current paper aimed to describe the engagement of the community residents in describing their current health situation and related priority problems, as well as explore appropriate initiatives to manage the identified problems.

Community-engaged research was utilized to enable the residents of Barangay San Vicente, Bamban, Tarlac to participate in health capacity building. Particularly, records review and focus group discussions were conducted to assess the community’s health needs and to identify the residents’ perceived problems. The findings were presented in a community assembly, where residents further discussed their priority health concerns and potential interventions to address them. Quantitative data were summarized through descriptive statistics, while qualitative information was synthesized via content analysis.

The priority community health problems included healthcare inaccessibility (trained staff, health equipment, and facility access), food insecurity, water supply limitations, and environmental sanitation. Moreover, there was inadequate knowledge and skills among the residents in health promotion, disease prevention, and illness management. While Barangay San Vicente had limited socioeconomic resources to optimize their health capacities, the sense of community among the residents is a vital resource towards empowering them to improve their health.

The results could be utilized as a launching pad for developing appropriate health programs for the residents of Barangay San Vicente. Hence, the next steps in Project “Lusog-Linang” should include the identification and training of core group members toward community mobilization, and further exploring collaborative and sustainable partnerships across organizations to ensure that the community will have long-term solutions to their problems. Consequently, this project could guide public health workers in ensuring the active involvement and participation of the community members in managing their own health.

Mental Health ; Capacity Building

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Research plays an important role in generating new knowledge that could improve health outcomes when translated into action. As such, there must exist a supportive research policy environment that facilitates the provision of necessary resources and sustainably ensures an appropriate number of skilled researchers buttressed by institutions. These, in turn, are envisioned to provide facilities, information systems, financial grants, and avenues for career development and collaboration. This study aims to analyze factors in the current policy environment that makes health research possible in the Philippines.

METHODS: Qualitative exploratory design was used to characterize the Philippine health research environment. Guided by Adamchak's framework on policy environment, a content review of 39 policy documents (1991 to 2018) by the four core agencies of the Philippine National Health Research System was conducted. Seven elements of the policy environment were described.

RESULTS: The policies analyzed in this study mainly addressed the legal, political, cultural, economic, and ecological elements of the policy environment. Policies that support the demographic and technological elements are lacking, in that these leave out details that are essential for capacity building and use of research output. A cross-cutting effort to resolve gaps may be necessary.

CONCLUSION: Several factors continuously affect the environment in which policy is developed. There is room for improvement in terms of showcasing the government's regulatory quality and independence from political pressure. Equal attention must also be paid to human capital development, innovation partnerships, and mechanisms to improve knowledge impact, absorption, and utilization.

Background. A 2017 situational analysis assessing Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) development in the Philippines revealed CPGs of inconsistent quality. In response, the Department of Health (DOH)-Philippine Health Insurance Corporation Manual for CPG Development was developed to outline the standardized steps of the CPG development process. To implement this, technically qualified institutions and individuals should be commissioned.

Objective. To identify qualified institutions and individuals and map out their technical skills and potential for capacit building in CPG development

Methods. Mixed methods were used in this cross-sectional study. A snowballing method identified specific institutions and individuals. Self-administered surveys and key informant interviews were conducted to determine competence, strengths, and gaps in the development of CPGs.

Results. A total of 74 individuals from 45 institutions with competencies in CPG development were identified. Of the 45 institutions, 72% were non-clinical, with roughly half working on formal research. Of the 74 individuals, 96% possessed relevant knowledge and skills and 85% already provided training on CPG development topics. Around half of the respondents have been part of a CPG development task force. Only about half were able to incorporate social concepts of equity, and only one-third had experience in managing conflicts of interest.

Conclusion. Qualified institutions and individuals identified in this capacity mapping can be tapped in future CPG development in the country. Incorporation of social concepts and management of conflicts of interest still need to be ensured.

Background: Filipino farmers recorded the highest incidence of poverty in the last decade. In addition, a heightened awareness was observed within agriculture and different government agencies to better understand the link between agriculture and nutrition. However, limited studies have been conducted in the Philippines integrating nutritionsensitive agriculture into the Municipal Agricultural Development Plan (MADP). Objectives: This study aims to determine the effect of capacity building on the knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy of municipal agriculturists on Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture (NSA) in CALABARZON. Methods: This study utilized a non-randomized controlled trial design to measure the change in knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy of the municipal agriculturists on NSA and nutrition sensitivity of the MADP. A total of 57 municipal agriculturists from CALABARZON participated in the capacity building. Results: Local agriculture planners' knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy significantly improved after capacity building. In addition, membership of municipal agriculturists to local nutrition committee was significantly associated with higher scores difference in knowledge and self-efficacy after the training. Meanwhile, the score difference in their attitude was significantly related to the tenure of employment in local agriculture planners. Conclusion Capacity building on the NSA can significantly improve local agriculture planners' knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy. Thus, the government must support programs and initiatives concerning the NSA, like increasing the capacity of local agriculture planners. This will allow them to integrate nutrition-sensitive agriculture concepts positively into their agriculture development plan.
agriculture ; food security ; capacity building

This study deals with the public health effects of a natural disaster and some public health principles that can be applied to disaster risk reduction and management, focusing on earthquake preparedness for Barangay San Jose - Rodriguez, Rizal, Philippines. The study showed that the urban poor community has a weak history of engagement, and it explores whether facilitated community interventions can empower and develop community preparedness. It followed a participatory approach involving community leaders and members. The study indicated that enhancing and modifying interventions that match community needs will develop community preparedness in the community, potentially increasing the chances of surviving an earthquake and minimizing its deleterious and damaging impact. Community preparedness will require continuous involvement and a cooperative approach to working with communities to support equal and harmonized development.
Public health ; Capacity Building ; Risk Reduction Behavior

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the level of project perception for those nurses from research-driven hospitals and to analyze the effect of research-relevant performance in the health care field focusing on the mediated effect of research capacity and job satisfaction. METHODS: Data were collected from June, 2014 to July, 2014, and participants were 106 research nurses in Research-driven hospitals. Descriptive statistics, Independent t-test, One-way ANOVA, structural equation modeling (SEM). RESULTS: As a result, Research-relevant performance according to project perception of research nurses from Research-driven Hospitals was not statistically significant, but research capacity and job satisfaction had a mediating role. Evaluation System Perception was significantly different from Research Capacity (p<.001), Research Capacity was significantly different from Job Satisfaction (p<.001), Job Satisfaction was significantly different from Research Performance (p<.001) CONCLUSION: The results indicate that research capacity building and job security research nurses are able to contribute to improving research performance of research-driven hospitals.
Capacity Building ; Delivery of Health Care ; Job Satisfaction* ; Negotiating*

The aim of this study was to investigate how implementation of direct nutrition education differs between nutrition teachers and dietitians in Gyeonggi Area. In this study, we collected data from 107 nutrition teachers and 129 dietitians in 2012. Among those who have answered they implemented direct nutrition education for the last one year, 36% were nutrition teachers and 10% were dietitians (p < 0.05). Among subjects who implemented direct education, a significantly greater percentage of nutrition teachers used a class as an education time to conduct creative hands-on-activity compare to dietitians (p < 0.05). However, for most dietitians, school meal time was more commonly used for direct nutrition education. When asked to make a suggestion regarding improvement for school nutrition education, the highest rate of people chose simplification of school administrative work (4.68 points) was needed. Developing nutrition education (4.55 points) showed the next highest rate. The rest of the answers were the following order; regular training of teaching methods (4.50 points), increasing awareness of school teachers (4.50 points), improving school facilities and financial support (4.47 points), preparing teaching plan (4.46 points), providing incentive for direct education (4.26 points), organizing regular class for nutrition education (4.17 points), and placing nutrition teachers (4.16 points). This study provides useful information including manageable workload of nutrition teachers and dietitians, capacity building and supportive school environment to be delivered with respect to nutrition education system in South Korea.
Capacity Building ; Financial Support ; Humans ; Meals ; Motivation ; Republic of Korea ; Teaching

In the years 2010-2015, the Philippines experienced a number of disasters, both natural and man-made, that killed around 1,400 and affected more than 68M people. These recent disasters highlight the need for all health workers, especially nurses to be prepared to respond to possible consequences of all types of hazards interacting with communities. Nurses who are at the forefront of health care services are counted upon to plan for and respond to emergencies and provide substantial care to individuals, families and communities. However, there is a need to review the competencies that nurses should have in emergency and disaster management to be able to carry out these roles and functions. This study describes the development of a training program, which aims to build capacity of nurses to participate actively in emergency preparedness, response and recovery efforts of hospitals and communities. Participants included nurses from hospitals and the community, and volunteer nurses. Their knowledge and skills related to disaster management were measured before and after the training. Their involvement in disaster management months after the training were recorded to demonstrate the impact of training on their professional development and in helping communities during or after a disaster. This study demonstrates how continuing education helps professionals become significant in addressing the needs of the general public and in contributing to social development.
Disasters ; Education, Continuing ; Delivery of Health Care ; Capacity Building