Determining an optimal case definition using mid-upper arm circumference with or without weight for age to identify childhood wasting in the Philippines.

In resource-limited areas, where accurate weight-for-height Z-scores are hard to obtain, Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) is a simple tool to identify wasted children. MUAC alone, however, may miss identification of many wasted children, leading to untimely intervention and potentially death. Our study aimed to identify the best-performing case definition to detect wasting by Weight-for-Height z-scores (WHZ) in Filipino children aged 6-59 months.

Cocreation in Health Workforce Planning to Shape the Future of the Health Care System in the Philippines.

Background: The Philippines passed landmark legislation in 2019 on universal health coverage, including reforms in the development of its health workforce, an essential building block of responsive health care systems.

Health Workforce Planning Cocreation Process: We based our planning process on a model of cocreation defined as sharing power and decision making to solve problems collaboratively and build consensus around action. Through cocreation with policy makers, researchers, and other stakeholders, we performed projection studies on 10 selected health professions and estimated the need for primary care at national and subnational levels, which was the most extensive health workforce projection carried out by the Philippine Department of Health to date.

Assessment of the quality of inpatient meals and nutrition and dietetics service processes in select Philippine public hospitals.

Aims: The nutrition and dietetics service in Philippine public hospitals was implemented by the Department of Health in 2016 to standardise the daily allowance and nutritional content of inpatient meals. Five years later, it is timely for the Department of Health to assess the quality of inpatient meals and mandated nutrition processes in areas such as staffing, food service, and outcomes monitoring.

Methods: A mixed-method sequential explanatory design was employed using (1) quantitative assessment through a facility survey (n = 193 hospitals) and (2) qualitative exploration of quantitative results through 6 focus group discussions (n = 36 hospitals).

The Impact of COVID-19 on Hospital Admissions for Twelve High-Burden Diseases and Five Common Procedures in the Philippines: A National Health Insurance Database Study 2019-2020.

Background: The Philippines has the highest cumulative COVID-19 cases and deaths in the Western-Pacific. To explore the broader health impacts of the pandemic, we assessed the magnitude and duration of changes in hospital admissions for 12 high-burden diseases and the utilization of five common procedures by lockdown stringency, hospital level, and equity in patient access.

Methods: Our analysis used Philippine social health insurance data filed by 1,295 hospitals in 2019 and 2020.

What explains the large disparity in child stunting in the Philippines? A decomposition analysis.

Objective: About one-third of under-five Filipino children are stunted, with significant socio-economic inequality. This study aims to quantify factors that explain the large gap in stunting between poor and non-poor Filipino children.

Design: Using the 2015 Philippine National Nutrition Survey, we conducted a linear probability model to examine the determinants of child stunting and then an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition to explain the factors contributing to the gap in stunting between poor and non-poor children.

Trends in National-Level Governance and Implementation of the Philippines' Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law from 2014 to 2020.

In 2012, the Philippines passed the Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning Law, a landmark legislation billed as a multisectoral and rights-based approach to further sustainable human development. This article is part of the first comprehensive evaluation of the implementation of the law by national-level actors. This evaluation is intended to assess the progress of implementers in the conduct of mandates, roles, and responsibilities described in the law and its implementing guidelines.

National multisectoral governance challenges of implementing the Philippines' Reproductive Health Law.

In recognition of the role of reproductive health in individual and national development, the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) Law of 2012 was passed in the Philippines after 30 years of opposition and debate. Seven years later, this article examined the cohesiveness of national multi-sectoral governance among state and non-state actors and identified challenges in coordination as part of the first comprehensive evaluation of the landmark policy. Using a qualitative intrinsic case study design and guided by the World Health Organization's systems checklist for governing health equity as our theoretical perspective, we conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with national implementers from health agencies (n = 11), non-health agencies (n = 6) and non-state actors (n = 3) that included civil society organizations (CSOs).

Cost-utility analysis of heart surgeries for young adults with severe rheumatic mitral valve disease in India.

Background: Rheumatic mitral valve disease (RMVD) is a major cause of acquired valvular disease in India. We compared the cost-effectiveness of surgical treatment strategies for young adults with severe RMVD from an Indian public payer perspective.

Methods: We developed a Markov model to reflect the burden of RMVD among a hypothetical cohort of 20-year-olds in India and to estimate quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and lifetime costs associated with three strategies: (1) Repair; (2) Mechanical valve replacement (MVR-M); and (3) Bioprosthetic valve replacement (MVR-B), compared to a baseline strategy involving a mix of surgeries approximating the standard of care in India (32% Repair, 33% MVR-M, 35% MVR-B).

Previous and active tuberculosis increases risk of death and prolongs recovery in patients with COVID-19.

Background: There is a growing literature on the association of SARS-CoV-2 and other chronic conditions, such as noncommunicable diseases. However, little is known about the impact of coinfection with tuberculosis. We aimed to compare the risk of death and recovery, as well as time-to-death and time-to-recovery, in COVID-19 patients with and without tuberculosis.

The Comparative Effectiveness of Autologous Blood-derived Products Versus Steroid Injections in Plantar Fasciitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Objective: Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common musculoskeletal diseases, and nearly 90% of patients can be successfully treated by nonsurgical options. However, it is yet to be determined which nonsurgical treatment has the best efficacy. The present study investigated differences between autologous blood-derived products and corticosteroid injections in the treatment of plantar fasciitis.

Preliminary validation of the PRImary care facility Management Evaluation tool (PRIME-Tool), a national facility management survey implemented in Ghana.

Background: The management quality of healthcare facilities has consistently been linked to facility performance, but available tools to measure management are costly to implement, often hospital-specific, not designed for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), nor widely deployed. We addressed this gap by developing the PRImary care facility Management Evaluation Tool (PRIME-Tool), a primary health care facility management survey for integration into routine national surveys in LMICs. We present an analysis of the tool's psychometric properties and suggest directions for future improvements.

Association of SHI coverage and level of healthcare utilization and costs in the Philippines: a 10-year pooled analysis.

Background: The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), which manages the Philippine national health insurance program, is a critical actor in the country's strategy for universal health coverage. Over the past decade, PhilHealth has passed significant coverage, benefits and payment reforms to contain costs and improve the affordability care for high-cost diseases, inpatient care and select outpatient services.

Methods: We studied the association of PhilHealth with health care utilization and health care costs using three rounds of the Philippine Demographic and Health Survey with data on individual outpatient and inpatient visits from 2008 to 2017.

Reflections on the use of the World Health Organization's (WHO) OneHealth Tool: Implications for health planning in low and middle income countries (LMICs).

The World Health Organization (WHO) launched the OneHealth Tool (OHT) to help low and middle income countries to develop their capacities for sector-wide priority setting. In 2016, we sought to use the OHT to aid the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC), the national health insurer of the Philippines, in decisions to expand benefit packages using cost-effectiveness analyses. With technical support from the WHO, we convened health planning officers from the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) conduct generalized cost-effective analyses (GCEA) of selected un-financed noncommunicable disease interventions using OHT.

Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis and Schistosomiasis in Children of Poor Families in Leyte, Philippines: Lessons for Disease Prevention and Control.

Objective: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) continue to be a public health problem in the Philippines. We assessed the association of soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) and schistosomiasis with selected health-related and socioeconomic variables in four villages in Leyte, Philippines.

Methods: Stool specimens from 418 adults and 533 of their children from 209 families were examined through the Kato-Katz technique.