October 31, 2019 — One project which tried to remedy the poor PhilHealth membership among tricycle drivers and operators utilized their organized group and encouraged them to save P6.60 daily. This amount served as their contribution that allowed them to become members of PhilHealth and access its health services. Another social innovation project which addressed the Aeta communities’ limited access to local health services was a Bridging Leadership Approach. Still another initiative brought rehabilitation and education services to children in a barangay in Quezon City.

Several other innovative projects were presented at the first Social Innovation for Health Learning Exchange (SIHI) held on Oct. 28, 2019 at the Sheraton Bay Manila Hotel. Each poster exhibit contained information not on the usual aspects of a study but on the Challenge, Opportunities for Scale, Solution, and Key Lessons derived.

The projects vary in terms of specific goals and recipients but they are all considered Social Innovation for Health Initiatives (SIHI) because they address social needs and are scalable and replicable for a wider reach and impact.

SIHI Philippines Project Leader Dr. Noel Juban said the forum’s goal was to bring together all the social innovation in health projects during the past three years to foster interest and support among each other, determine the kind of support needed and how this support can be provided, and share best lessons and practices.

“We are here to hear each other out and determine the things that we need to do for the country with the advent of the Universal Health Care. We need the help of everyone and this is why we invited people from the academe, health facilities, civil society groups, nongovernment organizations, and the private sectors.” The said sectors were all represented during the forum.

In her message, UP Manila Chancellor Carmencita Padilla told the participants that with the projects clearly defined and delineated now, they can engage in more social innovation in health initiatives that will create more ripples for the country. 

“I have seen how some of your innovations in the past have made a difference in the lives of certain communities. Change is going to happen because we are going to put our heads together so that our programs can be enhanced or improved,” she stated. 

She challenged the SIHI Philippine Hub leadership to do something that can be shared with the rest of the country. “With the success of the three years of operation of the Philippine hub, we can ask for more funding from the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) and provide the platform for the projects’ implementation,” she told Dr. Juban.

She added that for the country to move forward, we need the academe, policy advocates, community advocates, clinicians, and international agencies to bring people overseas so we can learn from them. “Everybody is important. I am so happy that majority are young. What is key is that good ideas are propagated and shared with the rest. Every idea, if multiplied a thousand times, is going to be a success story for the country.”

Prof. Karen Sagun-Ongtangco, Project Leader of “Kabahagi Center for the Inclusion of Children with Disability: A Program for the People by the People” assured the continuity and scale up of the project in the other barangays in Quezon City through a city-approved ordinance. Entitled “An Ordinance Institutionalizing a Comprehensive Program for Children with Disabilities,” it established the Kabahagi Center’s organizational staffing and provided funds to strengthen the city’s efforts for children who are disabled, impaired, handicapped, and in need of special education and rehabilitation services.

The ordinance supports 16 staff members allocated for the program. “The project will expand implementation to all six districts of Quezon City with strategic plan pending a participatory situational analysis of each district,” stated Prof. Ongtangco, an Occupational Therapy and MS Rehabilitation Sciences graduate of the UP College of Allied Medical Professions.

Dr. Elmer Soriano of Civika Asian Development Academy who is with the project entitled “Universal Health Care Labs as Platforms for Co-Innovation for Indigenous Peoples’ Health” identified deeply rooted cultural traditions and values of the indigenous peoples as constraints in the implementation of the health program. Asked what language was used in dealing with the natives, he said “We use Filipino as they have become familiar in understanding the dialect from watching teleseryes and other TV shows. However, the problem arises when they communicate with us in their native language,” he intoned during the innovators’ sharing.

He said that the project will be scaled up by inviting stakeholders at various levels for discussions with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and Department of Health and using the Bridging for Leadership approach.

PCHRD Research Utilization and Dissemination Head Merle Opena stated that one area where SIHI and PCHRD can work together is by engaging the latter’s 17 regional health consortia in the inventory of projects and another is through its bigger HERDIN platform that can be a link to the hub. She thanked UP Manila for serving as a permanent home for the hub that will provide continuity for the projects.

Other speakers who clarified the nature, standards, and key elements of SIHI were Dr. Beatrice Halpaap, Program and Portfolio Manager and SIHI TDR Lead, who defined the global landscape for Social Innovation in Health; retired UPCM professor and SIHI Advisor Dr. Mary Ann Lansang who explained the role of implementation research in Social Innovation Research through the Partners in Leprosy Action (PILA) project which is the first documented SIHI in the country; an innovator’s presentation by School of Health Sciences (SHS) professor Dr. Meredith Labarda on the Health Leadership and Governance Program of the SHS and Zuellig Family Foundation; and Dr. Joseph Tucker, SIHI Collaborator who talked on crowdsourcing in health research.

After the lectures and presentations, it was noted that a common need for the sustainability, scale up, and replicability of the projects is their integration into the health system. Many SIHIs have a short lifespan. They were brilliant ideas that did not survive the complex world as innovators did not share with rest of the world.

Other SIHIs exhibited during the forum were National Telehealth System, Synapse 2018 Health Hackathon and Ideation Competition, Optimizing Education Technology and Transformative Education Towards Integrating Social Accountability in the Medical Curriculum, Nanay Care Maternal Health System, Inter-Island Health Service Boat Project, Seal of Health Governance, and Good Pharmacy Practice Project: Academe-Training Hospital Collaboration for Outpatient Medication Counseling Services. For more details on the projects, please go to www.sihi.learnings.com.

Cynthia M. Villamor | Published in UP Manila Healthscape September – October 2019