HealthPRO 3rd Quarterly Report: April 01, 2012 – June 30, 2012

HealthPRO is implemented by University Research Co., LLC (URC) in close partnership with the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) and Local Government Units (LGUs). HealthPRO's primary objectives are to increase the impact of strategic behavioral change communication interventions, strengthen national institutional capacity in designing and implementing health promotion and communication interventions, and assist USAID's Country Agreement (CA) and other organizations in supporting the communication element of their programs. The project focuses on Maternal, Neonatal, Child Health and Nutrition (MNCHN), Family Planning (FP), Tuberculosis (TB), and HIV/AIDS. HealthPRO's expected outcomes include positive behavioral changes among individuals and caregivers, increased capacity of national and local institutions in carrying out effective health promotion strategies, and improved coordination and integration of governmental and non-governmental health promotion activities funded by USAID and other donors. The project operates in 30 provinces in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, including the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and select cities for HIV/AIDS. Behavior change communication planning is a key component of HealthPRO, with activities clustered under national and local levels. At the national level, HealthPRO provided technical assistance to DOH NCHP and the Center for Health Development 4-A in its interpersonal communications and counseling (IPC/C) training of trainers (TOT). At the local level, HealthPRO continued to provide technical assistance in the review of BCC plans and the development of sustainability plans. As of this quarter, 23 provincial sustainability plans have been developed, and one regional sustainability plan has been completed. The list of health promotion and communication activities in the plans was used as a basis for discussions in local budgetary planning meetings and incorporated in the Provincial Investment Plan for Health (PIPH) 2013-2017. HealthPRO field offices leveraged resources for health classes, health events, IPC/C trainings for HSPs and BHWs, and media placements and exposures amounting to more than 2.3 million pesos. Under communications implementation and support, HealthPRO continued to provide technical assistance on different aspects of health promotion and communication activities. More than 2,350 health service providers (HSPs) and barangay health workers (BHWs) were provided with IPC/C training, 82 HSPs were provided with supportive supervision, and 220 nurses and midwives from Luzon and Visayas received FP technical updates. Resource persons, community-based organizations, and non-traditional partners were continuously mobilized for health classes, health events, and distribution of family planning flyers. Most community mobilization and family planning activities in the field focused on ensuring the success and full participation of target audiences in the community stage play "Ikaw at Ako ay Tayo" in seven selected provinces in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The play reached out to impoverished and hard-to-reach areas and utilized the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) network, LGUs, and barangays. More than 100 performances were conducted in 65 municipalities of the selected seven provinces. As a result of the play, more audiences were also reached with family planning, safe motherhood, and child health messages through the health classes that immediately followed or preceded each play performance. All health classes – regular health classes and those conducted after the plays – reached almost 76,800 individuals. Health events for FP Wave 2, Safe Motherhood, Garantisadong Pambata, HIV/AIDS, and mini-LBK were also conducted. HealthPRO provided technical assistance in the development of an article for the May/June 2012 issue of DOH's news magazine HealthBeat; coordination with NCHP for the IPC/C rollout training in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan; and design of collaterals for community health teams (CHTs) in CHD 7.