JICA, DOH team up for drug rehab plan

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Department of Health (DOH) are embarking on a five-year technical cooperation project for the strengthening of the country’s capacity in rehabilitating illegal drug dependents.

Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) arm announced over the weekend that Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and JICA Philippines chief representative Susumu Ito signed recently the records of discussion which details JICA’s technical support to establish evidence-based drug dependence treatment and rehabilitation services in the Philippines.

Under the cooperation, JICA would dispatch experts on drug treatment and rehabilitation in order to strengthen Philippine government’s capacity to effectively deliver facility-based drug dependence treatment and rehabilitation services through research, training and developing a Philippine relapse prevention model.

President Duterte issued Executive Order 4 in 2016 supporting the establishment of drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation centers in the country.

Early in 2017, JICA and DOH signed a 1.85 billion yen grant aid agreement for the “Program for Consolidated Rehabilitation of Illegal Drug Users” that seeks to improve the operational and design standards of rehabilitation centers in the country.

JICA said its development assistance aims to reduce the risk of relapse of drug dependents and enable them to integrate themselves into society.

Aside from drug treatment programs, JICA has been actively supporting DOH’s advocacy since the 1970s in areas such as maternal and child health services as well as research and development on infectious diseases among other health challenges.