Brgy health workers complete info training
BARANGAY health workers in Toril and Sta. Cruz municipality recently completed their unique course, the first of its kind in the Philippines, to standardize and eventually digitize their Health Information System (HIS) for their communities.
The three-day HIS training conducted by public health experts from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) led by public health expert Dr. Renato Torres, was aimed at helping the health workers come up with standardized health metrics and data that are complete, accurate, timely, accessible and readily available to the end users.
With standardized data, local government, policy-makers and even the private sector will be able to set responsive programs that will accurately address the needs of the community.
“Before different barangay will have a different diagnosis of patients. A simple cough can be recorded as asthma for one barangay and maybe upper-respiratory tract infection in another. This training will allow us to see the real situation of our community and we will know what help we need to improve the health of our community,” Binugao, Toril barangay captain Antonio S. Saniel said.
Organized and sponsored by AboitizPower and its subsidiary Therma South Inc., the first phase of the program was the training last April 23 to 25 at Felis Resort Complex, which followed the baseline health data conducted by experts in 2012.
Recently, the barangay health workers from barangays Binugao and Sirawan in Toril District, and barangays Inawayan and Darong in Sta. Cruz, each received medical equipment donation from AboitizPower, like sphygmomanometers, digital thermometer, measuring tape weighing scale for adults and infants among others.
Their health centers also received equipment that will help the barangay health workers improve their records-keeping and basic health diagnosis.
The next phase of the program is the Barangay Management Information System, where attendees from the different barangays will go to UP Los Banos to train on health data management. Expenses for the training will be shouldered by AboitizPower. PR