HEALTH CARE TRAINING. Department of Health-Calabarzon official Maria Luisa Malana conducts a lecture during the Revised Family Planning Competency-Based Training held in Quezon City from September 9 to 13, 2019. The training was attended by 42 health workers from Quezon province. (Photo provided by DOH Calabarzon)
IMUS CITY, Cavite – The Department of Health (DOH) in Calabarzon (Region 4A) has embarked on a series of training of its health workers particularly on family planning to improve rural health services in the region.
“Kailangan nating ayusin lahat ng mga Rural Health Units (RHUs) at mabigyan sila ng sapat na pangangailangan upang makapagbigay ng wastong serbisyong pangkalusugan.(We have to improve all the RHUs and gave them enough support for them to give the appropriate health services),” DOH-Calabarzon Director Eduardo C. Janairo said on Tuesday.
Janairo said the first batch of the Revised Family Planning Competency-Based Training (FPCBT) held in Quezon City from Sept. 9 to 13, is pre-requisite to improve the skills of all health care providers particularly the newly-hired nurses and midwives assigned in remote barangays.
"They serve as the first point of contact for patients and families when scheduling appointments, coordinating patient follow up, and arranging transportation for patients to and from the nearest health facilities,” he said.
Prioritizing health workers of RHUs from island communities will also help attain and sustain "Zero Unmet Need for Modern Family Planning” as mandated by Executive Order No. 12 signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2017.
A total of 42 rural nurses and midwives from Quezon province, including Polillo Island, comprised the first batch of trainees.
Maria Luisa M. Malana, outcome manager for family planning and gender and development, emphasized that child spacing and the choice of contraceptive method is the decision of the couple.
“Our role is to educate them and provide them the proper information regarding their choice of family planning method. And it is the duty of frontline health workers to give them the essential knowledge and ensure that these are fully understood,” Malana told the health workers.
Calabarzon ranked No. 16 among the regions with contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) with Cavite having the highest CPR at 81.53%, followed by Quezon (77.90%), Laguna (53.27%), Batangas (40.08%), and Rizal (33.77%).
Among the top three family planning methods commonly used are pills, injectables and bilateral tubal ligation. (PNA)
