Current health systems in the Philippines, especially in deprived and remote areas are often poorly designed to respond to the healthcare needs of vulnerable groups such as older people and persons with disabilities. Affordability and accessibility of healthcare services have always been a problem particularly for poor families and those with mobility problems. This leads to severe health problems and if not be responded will create more harm to the lives of vulnerable groups.
The provision of health care for all has always been a big challenge for everyone who is involved in the health sector in the Philippines. There are free medical services in the community through the health centers, but more often than not, these health centers are understaffed, unequipped and are not easily accessible for the older people and other vulnerable sectors like the persons with disabilities living in remote and mountainous areas.
This project has been designed to improve older people's access to health care services. By using motorbikes, trained medical staff regularly delivers health care services to communities, especially to older people and persons with disabilities, living in isolated and hard-to-reach areas. Apart from basic diagnosis and treatment and the provision of medicine, the staff is also providing health information and education to their "clients" in order to promote healthy aging.
The project will contribute greatly to the improvement of health care services delivery especially to vulnerable older people and persons with disabilities who are having scarce resources and/or living in isolated and remote areas and haven't seen any doctor. Health in older age will be a crucial determinant of where the balance lies between the costs and benefits associated with population aging.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
