Philippines: mobilizing communities in delivering family planning services
Asian-Pacific Population Programme News 8(2): 31-4 37
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0125-6718 PMID: 12309583 Document Number: 275659
An intensive family planning program offering a variety of delivery systems has been successful for the last decade in the Philippines. The emphasis is on people's involvement. 2 government sponsored programs are currently spearheading a total national effort enlisting many related or complementary projects, some area specific, which utilize both private and public resources. The Commission on Population started 3 types of nonclinic based projects during 1975-76: the Total Integrated Development Approach (TIDA), the National Population/Family Planning Outreach Project (Outreach), and Project Compassion (PROCOM). Offices were set up at regional and provincial levels. The TIDA program has mostly been superseded by the Outreach program which was launched with U.S. government assistance. The PROCOM project integrates 4 social services: family planning, nutrition, food production, and environmental sanitation. At the village level, PROCOM is represented by volunteer neighborhood captains. Panay Island has the Panay Unified Services for Health (PUSH). Clinic-based delivery of maternal health services coupled with family planning services under the Population Commission are designed to reach every barangay. Rural health units are being established in every province with a population of 7-40,000. In the area covered by each rural health unit are several primary health care units with a midwife.