The 13th Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) week celebration, an annual gathering of different stakeholders in health research and development, will be held in Cagayan de Oro City on Aug. 13-16 at Limketkai Luxe Hotel.
The theme, “Achieving Health-Related Sustainable Development through Research and Innovation,” PNHRS 2019 will discuss current situation, challenges, advancements and worldwide efforts in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
It also aims to address the concerns and targets related to health.
Engr. Merlita M. Opeña, chief, Research Information, Communication and Utilization Division, Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, said they are urging more researches that respond to a real health problem.
Government funding will be accessible for priority areas under national unified health research agenda, she said.
In the region, top ten health research priorities include substance abuse, environmental health and sanitation, non-communicable and lifestyle-related disease, health systems research, adolescent sexuality and reproductive health, disaster risk reduction management and climate adaptation for health, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, food safety and occupational health.
Dr. Ian Christian A. Gonzales, Head, Non-Communicable Diseases Cluster, Department of Health-10, said for Northern Mindanao, the main health problem is non-communicable diseases.
“No longer are Malaria, or Dengue number one killers here, although they are still pertinent problems but it has been surpassed by non-communicable diseases especially hypertension and diabetes which are also called lifestyle related diseases,” Gonzales said.
In terms of studies, Gonzales said “We don’t have a lot of local studies on non-communicable diseases. We have a few that addresses for example hypertension studies or some diabetes studies. Mainly small studies done in training hospitals. We need to do bigger studies.”
He said, DOH next year we will be embarking on a big community survey to get exactly those numbers.
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