CHALLENGES PUBLIC HEALTH

COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Despite limited resources and a struggling healthcare system, Filipinos
have banded together to support each other, whether through grassroots
EXAMPLE initiatives to provide food and other basic necessities to those in need or
through community-led efforts to promote public health education and
awareness.
DR. MARIA ROSARIO S. VERGEIRE, MPH, CESO II, Officer-in-charge and
undersecretary department of health. The Department of Health (DOH) is the
principal agency in the Philippines. As the head of the department, it is the
responsible for ensuring access to basic public health services to all Filipinos
PERSONALITIES through the provision of quality health care and regulation of providers of health
goods and services. She also holds the over-all technical authority on health as
it is a national health policy-maker and regulatory institution.
GLOBALLY
As of 11:04 am CEST, 19 April 2023, there have been 763,740,140
confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6,908,554 deaths, reported to WHO.
CASES As of 15 April 2023, a total of 13,321,463,740 vaccine doses have been
administered
The confirmed case arrived in the Philippines from Wuhan, China via Hong
Kong last January 21,2020. The patient sought consult and was admitted in
one of the country’s government hospitals last January 25 after experiencing
mild cough. The COVID-19 spreads primarily from person to person. This can
SCENARIOS be via droplets released when people sick with the new coronavirus cough,
sneeze, and individual talks. It can also spread when you’re in close contact
with someone who’s sick – e.g when you hug or shake hand
1. ECONOMIC IMPACT ON COMMUNITIES
COVID-19 has taken a heavy toll on rural livelihoods. Loss of income
and job opportunities were overarching challenges in poor communities in the
Philippines.
OTHER ISSUES  Lack of income opportunities and reduction of pay were pre-existing
RELATED challenges but had worsened significantly due to the pandemic.
 During the pandemic, communities reported continued insufficient food
supply and health, sanitation, and nutrition issues.
2. SOCIAL COHESION
Many communities did not observe any peace and order problem such
as theft, crime, arguments, and community level conflict because of COVID-19.
There was also increase in loss of employment, to the COVID-related
discrimination similarly increased as well as in sexual harassment, rape, and
domestic violence.
3. HEALTH AND VACCINE CONCERNS
In the Philippines, access to health care during the pandemic remained
consistent, though a main challenge was the lack of medical supplies and
PPEs, especially in early phase
People find that there was significant concern about vaccine safety and
effectiveness. Vaccine hesitancy was hampering the rollout of the vaccines in
the country. Communities mainly trust doctors and health practitioners for
information and on vaccines. Though people knew vaccines could prevent
COVID-19, they were aware that health and risk mitigation protocols were still
needed.
CHALLENGES PUBLIC HEALTH
HEAT STROKE - with the onset of the dry season, the Philippine Heath Insurance
(PhilHealth) advised the public to take necessary precautions to avoid heat
stroke. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heat
stroke is the most serious heat-related illness and can cause permanent disability
EXAMPLE or death if the person does not receive an immediate emergency treatment.
Heat stroke occurs when core body temperature rises to 41C or higher and the
body is unable to cool down

DR. MARIA ROSARIO S. VERGEIRE, MPH, CESO II, Officer-in-charge and

undersecretary department of health. The Department of Health (DOH) is the
principal agency in the Philippines. As the head of the department, it is the
responsible for ensuring access to basic public health services to all Filipinos
PERSONALITIES through the provision of quality health care and regulation of providers of health
goods and services. She also holds the over-all technical authority on health as it
is a national health policy-maker and regulatory institution.

On April 04, 2023, the Department of Health (DOH) recorded 118 cases of heat
exhaustion – all whom are students – caused by the summer heat in March. In a
press conference, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that 33 of
the cases were from high schools in Valenzuela City on March 9. On the other
CASES hand, the other 85 cases were from Cabuyao, Laguna students on March 24.
Meanwhile, some 85 students in Cabuyao, Laguna also suffered from heat
exhaustion.

Heat stroke is always a risk in summer sports, especially volleyball and running.
Summer volleyball brings grueling workouts in brutal heat. For volleyball players,
SCENARIOS mild heat illness is common and grave heat stroke always a threat.
Heat stroke also threatens runners and other athletes; a young man in his first
marathon collapsed of heat stroke at 26 miles and died soon after.

SKIN CARE
Constant exposure to the sun can cause skin care, that is a known fact is the 26 th
form of cancer happening across the population. Citing data from the Philippine
Dermatological Society from 2011 to 2021, Vergeire said some 2102 people
OTHER ISSUES RELATED developed basal cell skin cancer and 614 had squamous cell skin care. Sustained
high temperatures, specially heat waves, increase the risk of dying, especially
among risk populations, which are highly vulnerable to its additional effect.