Philippines Report Shines Spotlight on Health System

http://www.adb.org/news/philippines-report-shines-spotlight-health-system
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Philippines launched its Health Systems in
Transition (HiTs) report today in an event that also commemorated its
membership in the Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and
Policies.

The Philippines HiT report, a product of the Asia Pacific Observatory,
is a comprehensive review of the country's health system and policy
reforms.  The report paves the way for easy access to relevant and
timely information for policy makers and analysts. The HiT report covers a 
wide scope of topics, including the organization and governance of
the health system, health-care financing, physical and human resources,
health services delivery mechanisms, and the principal directions in
health sector reform.

The Asia Pacific Observatory is a partnership of governments,
development agencies and the research communities that includes the
governments of Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand as
 well as the Asian Development Bank, AusAID, the World Bank and the
World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Offices for South-East Asia and the 
Western Pacific.  The program is housed in the Western Pacific
Regional Office of the WHO.

Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, said
the launching of the Philippines HiT is a milestone in health system
analysis in the Asia Pacific Region. "HiTs allow policy-makers to
understand what's working well with their health systems, where the
challenges are, and how it compares to other countries," Dr Shin said.

The report highlights both the strengths of the Philippines health
system and the challenges it faces. The health of Filipinos has improved 
considerably during the second half of the twentieth century, and these gains 
are accelerating. These improvements are due to improved social
conditions and a strengthened health system with modern technologies.
Public health interventions delivered by government health services are
achieving universal coverage, and sophisticated curative interventions
are available in major metropolitan areas. However, the rise in
noncommunicable diseases and reaching populations in remote areas
continue to be challenges for the health system to address.

The Philippines report is the Observatory's second HiT report, with the first being 
the Fiji HiT, released in June 2011. The HiTs are based on a template also used 
by the European Observatory, and help build a global body of comparable data. 
HiTs are under way in many other countries,
including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong (China), Lao People's
Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon
Islands, Thailand and Tonga.

The HiT reports online are available free of charge at: www.wpro.who.int/asia_pacific_observatory/about.html
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