Pfizer reaffirms its commitment to improve the quality of healthcare in the country by continuing it's support for the Leaders for Health project, its joint program with the Department of Health (DOH) and the Ateneo Graduate School of Business (AGSB) aimed at developing a corps of professional and committed leaders who will provide strategic and effective leadership at various levels of the Philippine health sector.
"We at Pfizer are proud to continue to be part of this worthy endeavor, as we believe it is having a significant and long-lasting impact on the delivery of health care services in the Philippines, particularly to far-flung and medically-underserved communities," Rey Gerardo E. Bacarro, Pfizer Philippines president, said in making the announcement.
The renewal of support by Pfizer will help in maintaining and expanding a program which has received wide recognition including the People Power People Recognition from the Benigno Aquino, Jr. Foundation given to initiatives which allow people to empower people in line with the spirit of the EDSA People Power Revolution of 1986.
Since its launch in 2002, the project has enabled 20 doctors, 20 mayors and 42 community leaders in previously doctorless towns to work together and create a common vision of health. With the assurance of continued funding, the project can now be expanded to 30 more areas this year and thus bring the total number of LHP sites in the country to 50.
Since their arrival, the doctors have been serving from 50 to 80 patients a day, which translates to over 300,000 beneficiaries per year. Aside from treating patients, the doctors also provide valuable medical and disease management information that help correct some of the unsanitary health practices traditionally used in remote areas.
At the same time, the doctors have been able to participate in a program of AGSB that would enable them to earn a Masters degree in Health Care Management. The first batch of 20 doctors will be graduating from AGSB this year.
Aside from the doctors, a separate but parallel track has been set up for mayors and local community leaders in the sites where the doctor volunteers are assigned. Four capacity enhancement workshops have so far been conducted for Local Government Units, Non-Government Organizations and People's Organizations to provide them with the basic knowledge and skills necessary for building and strengthening a sustainable health system.
Through these workshops, the three stakeholders - the doctors, the mayors and the community leaders -- conducted diagnoses of their areas, identified and prioritized their health problems and generated municipal strategic health plans.
To ensure that the doctors and local leaders participating in the LHP project would have the capacity to generate their own resources and contacts for their respective local projects, Pfizer, DOH and AGSB organized a Donors' Forum last year which resulted in their receiving pledges of support from various foreign and local organizations.
