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Knowledge Hub Insights and information on emerging issues in public health and how our solutions can help health authorities and facility administrators Empowering Community Health Workers in the Philippines How digital health solutions can close gaps in public health care especially in remote and geographically disadvantaged areas Across Philippine villages – especially in the rural …

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As a technology that can bridge health care services to women right at their doorsteps or within their respective communities, telemedicine technology is a game changer in achieving gender equity in health as it directly addresses the cultural, geographic, and age variables limiting women’s access.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, both public and private health facilities around the country implemented some form of telehealth service to provide health diagnosis and advise to patients who were restricted from traveling. Mostly in the form of mobile online video conferencing, SMS, chat, or traditional phone/mobile call services, teleconsult became the “new normal” especially for senior citizens and differently-abled persons.

Filipinos aged 60 and above are residing in rural areas according to a 2018 study by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia and approximately one in every five of Filipino senior citizens had experienced a fall within the 12 months preceding the survey. Meanwhile 18 percent of senior citizens across the country suffer from symptoms of arthritis – disorder that commonly affects joints and constrains mobility.

According to the Department of Health (DOH), chronic kidney disease (CKD) is currently the 4th leading cause of death in the country with End Stage Kidney Disease developing as secondary to complications of diabetes, hypertension, and chronic glomerulonephritis.

Beginning 2022, the Philippine national government is expected to fully devolve a wide range of functions it has been delivering on behalf of local government units following a Supreme Court decision which recomputed and as a result, increased the shares of LGUs in the national revenue.