Current situation and challenges for mental health focused on treatment and care in Japan and the Philippines - highlights of the training program by the National Center for Global Health and Medicine.

Background And Purpose: Mental health has emerged as an important public health concern in recent years. With a high proportion of children and adolescents affected by mental disorders, it is important to ensure that they are provided with proper care and treatment. With the goal of sharing the activities and good practices on child and adolescent mental health promotion, care, and treatment in Japan and the Philippines, the National Center for Global Health and Medicine conducted a training program on the promotion of mental health focused on treatment and care in Japan and the Philippines in September and November 2019.

Geographical information systems in health research and services delivery in the Philippines.

Accessible public data emanating from remote sensing from earth-observing satellites, as well as geographical information systems in general, are playing an increasing role in the public health sector in the Philippines. This paper reviews currently available systems in the country in this area, emphasizing the utility in complementing field studies with the development of disease models. The goal is to map out important biological threats by characterizing the niches infectious agents, and their vectors or intermediate hosts, occupy temporally and spatially.

The role of community health workers in malaria control in the Philippines.

The barangay health workers (BHWs) or government-trained health volunteers have been operating in rural villages in the Philippines since 1981. Although malaria is a consistently recognized health problem, the BHWs do not contribute optimally to control activities even in endemic areas. This is so because of inadequate training, insufficient logistic support, poorly sustained motivational schemes and lack of community support.