Barangay health volunteers, also known as barangay health workers (BHWs), are

health care provider A health care provider is an individual health professional or a health facility organization licensed to provide health care diagnosis and treatment services including medication, surgery and medical devices. Health care providers often rece ...

s in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. They undergo a basic training program under an accredited government or non-government organization, and render

primary care Primary care is a model of health care that supports first-contact, accessible, continuous, comprehensive, and coordinated person-focused care. It aims to optimise population health and reduce disparities across the groups by ensuring equitable ...

services in the community. They provide services such as first aid, maternal, neonatal, and child health, and community-based interventions including immunization clinics for

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

s.Red Cross
Philippines: Health.
Accessed November 8, 2011.

History

With the decentralization of healthcare through the 1991 Local Government Code, the responsibility of delivery of primary health services were transferred from the central government to locally elected provincial, city, and municipal governments. Health services were previously funded and managed by the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...

but were transferred to the local governments after the devolution of the healthcare system.

Training and practice

Barangay Health Workers are accredited to function as such by the local health board in accordance with the guidelines promulgated by the Philippines Department of Health, as defined in Sec. 3 of Republic Act No. 7883. This act, also known as "Barangay Health Workers' Benefits and Incentives Act of 1995", recognizes the need for primary health care and organizes health workers to promote health empowerment. Barangay health workers are a type of

community health worker A community health worker (CHW) is a member of a community who provides basic health care, health and medical care within their community, and is capable of providing preventive, promotional and rehabilitation care to that community, typically wit ...

s and act as health advocates and educators within their communities. They live in the communities they serve and receive about five weeks of training, ranging from administering immunizations, weighing children, birthing services, etc. They provide information, education and motivation services for primary health care,

maternal A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestatio ...

and

child health Pediatric nursing is part of the nursing profession, specifically revolving around the care of neonates and children up to adolescence. The word, ''pediatrics'', comes from the Greek words 'paedia' (child) and 'iatrike' (physician). 'Paediatrics' ...

child rights Children's rights or the rights of children are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors.

family planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marit ...

and

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into Macronutrient, macro- ...

. On average, each Volunteer is expected to work with around 20 families in their community. However the scarcity of trained individuals has narrowed down the number of volunteers, especially in some remote areas, where now one or two volunteers service an entire barangay.

Research

According to Fe Espino at the

Research Institute for Tropical Medicine The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM; ) is a health research facility based in Muntinlupa, Philippines. History Establishment By the early 1980s, negotiations between "mutually interested parties" within the governments of the ...

on dengue prevention in the Philippines shows how community trust of the BHV is vital to the success of behavior change programs. In 2010, the number of dengue cases in the Philippines rose from 37,101 in 2006 to 118,868. Dengue fever is caused by a virus transmitted by mosquitoes which are born in still water. Due to water shortages, households are forced to store water throughout the year. Espino’s research team engaged the local Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) to introduce a household water container management system to control dengue in 2 communities in "Masagana City" in Metro Manila. In both village ‘A’ and ‘B’, BHWs were trained to teach households to inspect water containers for immature mosquitoes. An instructional guide was provided along with a container management checklist, collected during monthly visits. The team also provided a video of dengue control techniques. Village A, however, encountered many problems and there was a poor response to the program. In Village B participants reported not only that the visits made residents more aware of dengue control, but they were more inclined to take action. Although behaviour change results have not yet been reported, it appears the difference is that the BHWs in Village B were more active and more trusted by the community. This shows that when engaging change agents, it’s important to understand both how the community feels about them and how they feel about their community.

Limitations

Despite the efforts of barangay health volunteers, they are constrained within the political leadership of local government units. There is a perception that barangay health stations provide low-quality health services and have low-client satisfaction. With funding limitations, barangay health stations struggle with lack of medicines supplies, long wait times, declines in quality of facility infrastructure, and lack of proper training and staffing. The rural poor are the most susceptible to poor sanitation, malnutrition, and lack of hygiene efforts. These communities that depend heavily on barangay health services are affected by political, social, and economic decisions made by local authorities .{{Cite journal, last=Azfar, first=Omar, last2=Gurgur, first2=Tugrul, date=July 1, 2008, title=Does corruption affect health outcomes in the Philippines?, journal=Economics of Governance, language=en, volume=9, issue=3, pages=197–244, doi=10.1007/s10101-006-0031-y, issn=1435-6104 Volunteers may often be limited in knowledge due to new advances in medicine and lack of proper training. Training is crucial for barangay health workers to improve their health knowledge and competency and provide the best quality care.

References

Barangays of the Philippines Healthcare in the Philippines

History

Training and practice

Research

Limitations

See also

References