Posted on 3 March 2007
MANILA- A series of consultative workshops marked the involvement of Department of Health regional epidemiologists, local health officers, and hospital managers in the finalization of the guidelines for the Philippine Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response System (PIDSR).
PIDSR is a landmark development in efforts to harmonize and strengthen the public health surveillance system in the country.
The first consultative workshop on the PIDSR was conducted last January 31 among directors of the DOH Centers for Health Development (CHD) and DOH central office agencies as well as selected program managers. The day after, on Feb. 1, 2007, another consultative workshop was held for the heads of the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Units (RESU) all over the Philippines.
From Feb 26 to 28, another consultative workshop was conducted among selected local government units and this was followed by a writeshop wherein revisions were incorporated into the guidelines. The DOH aimed to conduct a strategic and operational planning workshop for PIDSR - that would involve other DOH agencies, offices and RESUs.
At the workshop, participants from the provinces and municipalities were asked to discern on the values of disease surveillance in their locality before they were engaged to modify the proposed PIDSR guidelines as the relate to the local situations. Hospital managers on the other hand were asked to validate the listed roles and responsibilities before they suggested mechanisms for hospitals to comply with the reporting requirements, and recommendations on how hospitals can address issues like conflicts with doctor’s diagnosis, timeliness of reports, and guidelines in specimen collection and transport, among others.
The outputs of the workshops will result in a five-year plan that seeks to implement the integration of the disease surveillance systems and aid WHO, ADB and other funding agencies in determining how they can assist in the implementation of the PIDSR.
The activity was part of the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded Strengthening Epidemiological Surveillance and Response (ESR) project for Communicable Diseases in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines (TA No. 6305 – REG).
Back to Top | About RETA 6305 | Back to News/Events
|