To resolve health inequity in the rural areas, the Department of Health-CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) conducted the 3rd Municipal Leadership and Governance Program Colloquium for Mayors and Municipal Health Officers of eight municipalities of the region who have completed the 18-month partnership program with the University of the Philippines.
Regional Director Eduardo Janairo said the best way to address the health inequity is to capacitate local executives and health officers to enable them to establish their own community health system that will be responsive and suitable to the health needs of their people.
“Now that these local officials who have undergone the training program knows the importance of health, and learned what they need and what they lack in their areas, through their scorecards. the next thing to do to identify and pool resources and establish a plan for the continuity of the instituted health programs for the benefit of the people in these communities,” he emphasized.
As part of their course output, Janairo said municipal health leaders together with their health officers will work to improve their health performance indicators.
This will be color-coded to show how their performance is compared to the external and internal benchmarks set by the 2010 national target and to the 2008 national average.
He said green means excellent performance which merits sustenance and incentive; yellow implies comparatively good performance but must be maintained and optimized to reach the target goals; and red means fair and the is lower than the 2006 baseline.
Janairo said the willingness to learn and the commitment to complete the course and get into the learning program are the things that are considered in selecting the participants.
“We announce the opening of the class and then they apply by two’s— the mayor and the municipal health officer. They must be a team in order to develop their local health system.”
Their journey will begin by presenting to them their current health status of their municipality as shown by indicators and how they will improve and accomplish it by a period of 18 months.
“Usually, those that have passion and initiative to develop their health system from the environment up to the families and give a better future to their constituents,” he said.
The graduating mayors shared their leadership journey during the Colloquium held and presented their best practices, innovative programs, and health outcomes achieved as highlighted in their scorecards.
“Genuine leadership takes in personal accountability and responsibility. Leaders involve themselves and answer for the outcome of their choices, behaviors and actions in any situations,” said Janairo.
The eight graduates were given P200,000.00 performance-based cash incentive as financial support to sustain the implementation of their programs
The MLGP is an 18-month program divided into three modules that runs for 4 straight days each.
For every module, the participants apply their learning through a 6-month practicum with supplemental coaching and mentoring from development management officers and HLGP team from the DOH regional office.
At the end of the 18-month engagement, a colloquium ceremony is conducted to showcase their best practices and highlight the completion outputs and compliance to the program requirements.
