Published 27 Dec 2024in
For over a decade, the Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) has been implementing health leadership and governance development programs in collaboration with selected provinces, national government agencies, such as the DOH, and international development partners. A major component of these programs is the Provincial Leadership and Governance Program (PLGP), a public-private collaboration model for strengthening local health systems towards universal health coverage in the Philippines. The PLGP highlights the importance of enhancing local government capabilities. As local governments in the Philippines are mandated to manage and implement health programs, the knowledge, skills, and commitment of governors, mayors, and their health teams are critical to achieving the SDGs. The PLGP builds the capacity of provincial governments on local health governance to ensure that policies, structures, and environments are in place for effective frontline health service delivery to be felt by communities. The PLGP-3, which was implemented in the provinces of Aklan, Agusan del Sur, and Bataan from 2019 to 2022, focused on improving Filipinos' access to primary healthcare, specifically on maternal (SDG 3.1) and child health (SDG 3.2) and infectious (SDG 3.3) and non-communicable disease control (SDG 3.4). To this end, leadership training, coaching, and specialized technical sessions were given to provinces and municipalities, including their priority barangays, by equipping provincial governors, mayors, other elected local government officials, and health officers. Technical assistance and funding support from the DOH were also mobilized to ensure improvements in the local health systems, attain the target level of systems integration and UHC maturity model, and achieve health outcome improvements. Based on the assessment of the implementation of the PLGP-3, trends of maternal deaths at the provincial level showed a decline, with notable improvements in skilled birth attendance and facility-based deliveries. Given the success of the PLGP, the ZFF and DOH have forged partnerships at the DOH Regional Level (DOH Centers for Health and Development [CHDs]), together with academic institutions, to ensure the sustainability of the program by strengthening local health systems. To date, the DOH CHDs of the Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, CALABARZON, and Eastern Visayas, have partnerships with the ZFF, with UP Manila College of Public Health, UP Manila School of Health Science at Palo Leyte, UP Visayas, Davao Medical School Foundation, and the Cordillera Career Development College to implement the “Bayang Malusog” Program – an adoption of the PLGP model to accelerate UHC.
2024 SPACE
