Interprofessional Care

in Community
Nathalie C. Fat, RN, MAN
• “Interprofessional care" refers to care
provided by a team of healthcare
professionals with overlapping expertise and
an appreciation for the unique contribution of
other team members as partners in achieving
a common goal.
 Rural Health Unit
• It serves as the main source of free basic
health services or primary health care services
in the community/ population.

• Services are provided at the center and

outreach services are provided in distant
areas.
• The Rural Health Act of 1954 provided for the
establishment of a rural health unit in every
municipality, and appropriated funds for the
purpose.

• In 1991 the Philippines Government

introduced a major devolution of national
government services, which included the first
wave of health sector reform, through the
introduction of the Local Government Code of
1991.
• The Code devolved basic services for
agriculture extension, forest management,
health services, barangay (township) roads
and social welfare to Local Government Units.

• In 1992, the Philippines Government devolved

the management and delivery of health
services from the National Department of
Health to locally elected provincial, city and
municipal governments.
• The Barangay Health Station/ Health Center
is the satellite of the RHU where the first
contact of the patient occur.

• Types of services offered are the primary

preventive and promotive services such as
health education.
• Campaign for sanitation

• Immunization

• Normal delivery by midwife

• Contact tracing

• Liaison with the community

• The Rural Health Unit is the primary referral
center from the BHS.

• Provide promotive and secondary level

prevention

• Treatment of primary cases not needing

inpatient services
• Outpatient services (case-finding and
treatment)

• Health education, promotive and preventive

campaigns

• Normal delivery, prenatal, post-natal

• Minor surgery
• Based on the Philippine Health Reform
Agenda 2016-2022, the following are the
services to be provided and that there should
be 1 BHS per Barangay with 1 nurse or
midwife and 1 RHU/ UHC with 1 doctor per
20, 000 population.
• The next slide shows a sample of an
organizational structure of a City Health
Office under the umbrella of the Local
Government Unit and the services offered and
personnel.
• VISION
The Department of Social Welfare and
Development envisions all Filipinos free from
hunger and poverty, have equal access to
opportunities, enabled by a fair, just, and peaceful
society.

• MISSION
To lead in the formulation, implementation, and
coordination of social welfare and development
policies and programs for and with the poor,
vulnerable, and disadvantaged.
Programs, Projects and Services
The NNC, as mandated by law, is the country's
highest policy-making and coordinating body on
nutrition.

• Improving the nutrition situation in cannot be

achieved by spoon-feeding alone nor by the
generosity of a single sector's spoon.

• It requires collaboration in creating and recreating

ideas; seeking unity and totality of approach
toward nutritional adequacy for all Filipinos.
NNC Core Functions

• Formulate national food and nutrition policies and

strategies and serve as the policy, coordinating and
advisory body of food, nutrition and health concerns;

• Coordinate planning, monitoring, and evaluation of

the national nutrition program;

• Coordinate the hunger mitigation and malnutrition

prevention program to achieve relevant Millennium
Development Goals;
• Strengthen competencies and capabilities of
stakeholders through public education, capacity
building and skills development;

• Coordinate the release of funds, loans, and grants from

government organizations (GOs) and nongovernment
organizations (NGOs); and

• Call on any department, bureau, office, agency and

other instrumentalities of the government for
assistance in the form of personnel, facilities and
resources as the need arises.
 Composition
The Council is composed of a Governing Board (GB) and a Secretariat.
The Governing Board is the policy-making body of the NNC and is
composed of the:

• Secretary of Health, Chairperson

• Secretary of Agriculture, Vice-Chair
• Secretary of the Interior and Local Government, Vice-Chair
• Secretary of Budget and Management
• Secretary of Education
• Secretary of Labor and Employment
• Secretary of Science and Technology
• Secretary of Social Welfare and Development
• Secretary of Trade and Industry
• Director-General, National Economic and Development Authority
• Three representatives from the private sector are appointed by the
President of the Republic of the Philippines for a two-year term.
 Structure for Nutrition Policy and
Program Coordination
• The functions and multisectoral composition
of the NNC are replicated at subnational
levels. Regional, provincial, city, municipal and
barangay nutrition committees are organized
to manage and coordinate the planning,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of
local hunger-mitigation and nutrition action
plan as a component of the local development
plan.
• Local chief executives serve as chairpersons.
Nutrition action officers are designated or
appointed to attend to the day-to-day
operations of the local nutrition program.
 THE POPCOM MANDATE
• The Commission on Population (POPCOM) is a
government agency mandated as the over-all
coordinating, monitoring and policy making
body of the population program. It is the lead
agency promoting population activities.
 LEGAL MANDATE
• The Commission on Population was created
by virtue of R.A. 6365 enacted on August 15,
1971 an act establishing a national policy on
population and amended by P.D. 79, section 3,
on December 8, 1972 is hereby created under
the office of the President. It is the central
policy making, planning and coordinating
body for the population program.
• On March 24, 2003 Malacaňang issued an
Executive Order 188 attaching POPCOM to
DOH. The issuance of EO 188 calls for unified,
consistent, and integrated implementation of
the population program, which will lead to
consistency of policies, and programs
particularly in population management,
reproductive health and family planning.
 Programs and Projects
• Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning
(RPFP)
• Adolescent Health and Development (AHD)
• Population and Development (POPDEV)
Integration
• Special Populations Group
• Gender and Development (GAD)
• A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a
non-profit group that functions independently
of any government.

• NGOs, sometimes called civil societies, are

organized on community, national and
international levels to serve a social or
political goal such as humanitarian causes or
the environment.
• non-profit, private organizations that operate
outside of government control.

• Some NGOs rely primarily on volunteers, while

others support a paid staff.
• The World Bank identifies two broad groups of
NGOs:
1. Operational NGOs, which focus on the design
and implementation of development projects.

2. Advocacy NGOs, which defend or promote a

specific cause and seek to influence public
policy.
 Example of NGO’s in Philippines
• IBON Foundation
• Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
• Child Hope Asia
• Habitat for Humanity Philippines (HFHP)
• Pro-Life Philippines
• Philippine Red Cross
• Haribon Foundation
• Society for the Conservation of Philippine
Wetlands
• AngatBuhay Foundation
 References
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29521716/
• https://www.slideshare.net/gwilly107/interprofe
ssional-healthcare-teams
• https://lawyerly.ph/laws/view/l29fd
• https://www.rrh.org.au/journal/article/220
• https://www.who.int/management/facility/Refer
ralPhilippines.pdf
• www.dswd.gov.ph
• www.popcom.gov.ph
• www.doh.gov.ph
Image: Forbes.com