Community Based Health Care in the Philippine Highlands: The Hanunuo Mangyans of Mindoro

Abstract

The feasibility and effectiveness of community participation in the planning and delivery of health care services among the Hanunuo Mangyans in the Philippine highlands is described. The Hanunuo are swidden cultivators and one of seven indigenous ethnic minorities in the forested interior of Mindoro island. Previous Mangyan studies have shown that they have poor health, are generally malnourished and continually susceptible to communicable diseases. The need to develop viable strategies to counter their health problems is pressing since Mindoro suffers from insufficient health care facilities and personnel, and health services are rarely available to Mangyans. Baseline surveys on the health and nutritional status of the Hanunuo population in the project site indicated that the following illnesses are most prevalent: upper respiratory tract infection, skin diseases, parasitism, anaemia and malaria. The more significant health problems of the Hanunuo include poor environmental sanitation, lack of medical personnel and drugs, inadequate knowledge of curative and preventive care, lack of adequate prenatal care, poor nutritional status and lack of health education. Also described are the participation of the community in project planning and decision making, the training workshops and resource manual for the community volunteers, the coverage areas and assigned tasks of the health workers, and the organisation of village health committees.