Highlights
- Apart from the COVID-19's direct impact, other major services under the health system is also affected by the current pandemic.
- In the Philippines, COVID-19 cases continue to increase and local government units (LGUs) are struggling to cope up with the effects of these cases.
- A group of Filipino nurses in Australia, the Filipino Nursing Diaspora Network, developed the 'Health-COVE Project', to assist local academics and the public health workers and LGUS on the Philippines.
Aimed at helping nurses, academics and the public health sector in the Philippines cope with the challenges of the current pandemic, the Filipino Nursing Diaspora Network (FIND) developed the Health-COVE Project.
"Looking through what’s happening in the Philippines, we see that most of the efforts definitely are being done through the national government and the local government units (LGUs) are still struggling on how to cope with the effects of the pandemic," says Joemer Maravilla, Health COVE Project Director.
'Health-COVE Project'
The Health-COVE Project was developed by Filipino Nursing Diaspora Network (FIND), a group of Filipino nurses in Australia, to help the local health system in the Philippines to deal with the short and long-term effects of COVID-19.
"Yes, there’s a problem with how to manage COVID-19 screening, detection but we also realised that apart from the direct effects of COVID-19 to the Philippine health system, there are other things around it that is also being affected," reveals Mr Maravilla.
"Yung mga usual implementation ng mga karaniwang health programs in the Philippines is definitely affected."
"Health programs like family planning programs are being affected because of COVID-19; there are also other vaccination programs that had to be put on hold while the government is prioritising COVID-19 measures."
FIND is currently conducting various webinars, online consultation at virtual tools to assists in finding ways for regular health programs to continue.
Through the Australia-ASEAN Council grant of $48,600, "the Health-COVE project also brings together experts from relevant fields including public health, mental health, health human resource and clinical practice to mentor local academics and public health workers through online and virtual tools".
In Luzon, among those target participants are from Holy Angel University in Angeles, Pampanga; De La Salle Health Science Institute in Dasmarinas, Cavite; Far Eastern University in Manila, and Trinity University of Asia in Quezon City.
Through online and virtual engagement, Filipino nurses and academics based in Australia and outside the Philippines assist local health systems in the Philippines. Source: Filipino Nursing Diaspora Network (FIND)
The Visayas State University from Central Visayas and Ateneo de Davao in Mindanao are also taking part in the project.
Also participating are LGUs from different parts of Davao in Mindanao; Wawa in Rizal and one in Angeles City in Pampanga.
Online engagement
Because of the pandemic, most of the Filipino Nursing Diaspora Network's projects are done online, conducting webinars and online engagements to empower and enhance the capabilities of the Filipino nurses.
"We need to see the bigger picture how the nurses can play a role not just in leadership but even into facilitating those conversations in the international arena," points Maravilla, also a nurse and a researcher based in Brisbane, Queensland.
"The pandemic has not hindered us in what we are doing to help fellow nurses in the Philippines and around the world. We were able to set our phase using online platforms."
Experts from relevant fields including public health, mental health, health human resource and clinical practice mentor local academics and public health workers in the Philippines. Source: Filipino Nursing Diaspora Network (FIND)
In fact, the Network has also established a collaboration with the Filipino Nursing Association in the Nordic region in Europe to widen the extent of their international projects.
The group also hopes this is just the beginning of more projects and aims to further widen collaboration to help Filipino nurses and the whole health system in the Philippines.
The Filipino Nursing Diaspora Network is a professional organisation assisting Filipino nurses working and living in and outside the Philippines.
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