Primary Health Care / Rational Drug Use / HIV&AIDS / Gender, Sexuality, Reproductive Health / Communicating for Advocacy

HAIN works toward empowering individuals and communities so that they can access objective and accurate health information. The expression, “global linkages for local needs” is something HAIN has been adhering into for several years. This explains HAIN’s role in networking for information. HAIN makes use of its access to international organizations which have available information on a global level then disseminate these information to local communities as widely as possible.

HAIN maintains international networks with some advocacy campaign groups. HAIN is the secretariat of the People’s Health Movement in the Philippines. HAIN supports the People’s Charter for Health which is now the common tool of a worldwide citizen’s movement committed to making the Alma-Ata Declaration (Health For All) dream a reality.

HAIN is also a member of the Gender, Reproductive Health and Population Policies (GRHPP) which is an international action-research initiative, and the Health Action International-Asia Pacific (HAI-AP), a network of organizations and individuals involved in health and pharmaceutical issues.

HAIN has supported various local advocacy campaigns by providing research, training and information assistance to several organizations and NGOs. HAIN’s publications, researches, resource center, and other services are being utilized by organizations and individuals for policy-making. HAIN builds its information network with numerous key partners that provide us with information and partners whom we disseminate information to.

Likewise, HAIN participates in other various advocacy activities such as protest rallies, lobbying, public forum and debates to express its strong stand on different issues and causes.

Advocacy on Primary Health Care
When HAIN was established in 1985, it worked closely with Community Health Based Programs (CBHPs) on the issue of health and development, particularly primary health care. CBHP targets the over-all well being of the people not just by treating their diseases but also by raising their social awareness and action. HAIN served as the information center and databank for the health NGO partners.

The earliest newsletter HAIN published was Health Alert which was intended to serve as a quick information system, providing short news and feature articles on health-related issues in the Philippines. This had become useful information material for CBHPs as they explain health to the people in the community.

This started the demand for HAIN to come up with more comprehensive publications that will present the dreadful health situation in the country in layperson’s terms. The publications “Caring Enough to Cure: Diagnosing the Disease-Poverty Syndrome” explains the facts behind the cold figures of morbidity, mortality and malnutrition. This was also produced in video as an advocacy tool at the community level. Another publication, “Restoring Health Care to the People” presents information on the health care system in the Philippines after the snap revolution of 1986.

HAIN is the secretariat of the People’s Health Movement in the Philippines. HAIN supports the People’s Charter for Health which is now the common tool of a worldwide citizen’s movement committed to making the Alma-Ata Declaration (Health For All) dream a reality.

In 2003, HAIN revived Health Alert newsletter and expanded its coverage to Asia-Pacific newsletter to reach more people in the region. The publication provides practical, up-to-date, relevant and accurate health information for health, community and education workers in Asia and the Pacific.

Advocacy on Rational Drug Use
Along with its advocacy on primary health care issue, HAIN also plays an important role in promoting Rational Drug Use, Essential Drugs Policy and other issues on pharmaceuticals. HAIN has conducted various training-workshops on these issues to discuss highly technical subject from staff members involved in primary heath care and community based health programs.

HAIN is a member of the Philippine Drug Action Network (PDAN).

Another early publication of HAIN was the Drug Monitor, a newsletter which presented news and feature articles which aimed to provide objective information on health and medical issues to the public.

HAIN is a member of the Health Action International-Asia Pacific (HAI-AP), a network of organizations and individuals involved in health and pharmaceutical issues. HAIN participated in various researches on rational drug use which became the bases of policies related to access to medicines over the years. Some of these researches were turned into publications.

Advocacy on HIV&AIDS
HAIN’s involvement in HIV/AIDS advocacy started since 1990s at the start of the epidemic when basic information about the disease were very much needed for prevention. HAIN has had conducted training-workshops on basic HIV/AIDS information among medical professionals, students, hotel workers, media practitioners, women and men who have sex with men. These series of workshops led to the development of the manual, “Understanding HIV/AIDS”, which discusses not just about the medical aspects of HIV but also social, ethical and moral issues.

Also during that time, our newsletter, AIDS Action Asia Pacific, put HAIN at the forefront of HIV/AIDS information in the Asia Pacific region as it tried to present updates and practical articles on HIV/AIDS prevention and care. Later on, we came up with Essential AIDS Information Resources, which contains a list of more than 400 resources on HIV/AIDS with brief descriptions and full details on how to access and obtain them.

Our researches in HIV/AIDS have been used for policy formulation. HAIN has produced the 2000, 2002 and 2005 editions of the HIV/AIDS Country Profile reports with support from the UNAIDS. The report presents the HIV/AIDS situation in the Philippines, including data on demography, general health situation, economic indicators, education and poverty. Likewise, HAIN also prepared the 2008 report on HIV and AIDS for the United Nations General Assembly on HIV and AIDS Special Session (UNGASS)

HAIN’s analytical presentation of the HIV/AIDS situation in the country is deeply discussed in the book, A Matter of Time: HIV/AIDS Development in the Philippines, providing more encompassing perspective that examines how HIV/AIDS impacts on economic growth rates, life expectancy, poverty, and community and family life.

HAIN is one of the NGO representatives at the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC), the highest advisory council to the President of the Philippines to HIV/AIDS policies. HAIN was actively involved in formulating the 1998 Philippine HIV/AIDS Prevention Law (Republic Act 8504). HAIN also now plays active role in the Girls, Women and HIV/AIDS Network (GWHAN) in the Philippines.

Advocacy on Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive Health
HAIN has been involved in various training and research activities to promote sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and gender equity.

For several years, HAIN conducted training workshops, short courses and round table discussions on SRH issues among NGOs, government organizations and the academe. Among the topics we have covered include project proposal development, religion & sexuality, gender, integrating SRH in school curriculum, young people’s sexuality, etc.

HAIN conducted the “Action Research on the Social and Cultural Context of Reproductive Tract Infections in the Philippines.” The monograph, which was an output of the research, presented several studies on reproductive tract infections (RTIs) in the Philippines. It also elicited many other reproductive health problems besides RTIs.

On family planning, HAIN has had a research that concentrated on perceptions of family planning. The data had been extensive and generated new insights on family planning needs. HAIN also conducted a policy review of natural family planning (NFP) to look at why there is a gap between policy and practice on NFP and how it affects its usage.

Moreover, HAIN’s conducted series of training-workshops on family planning and operations research. The workshops consisted of two rounds; the first introducing participants to the basic about family planning and the second consisted of training in operations research. Two manuals on family planning and operations research were produced by HAIN as an end product of the project.

HAIN has also been into research on adolescent sexuality. In 1995, HAIN conducted the Young Adult Study (YAS) to look into risk perceptions among young people relating to sex. Years later, HAIN was commissioned to implement the qualitative phase of the 3rd Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study (YAFS 3) of the University of the Philippines Population Institute. HAIN has conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews on various topics on young people’s reproductive and sexual health.

In 2006, HAIN was funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to implement a project which aims to enhance the advocacy and communication skills of RH advocates through workshops on Strategic Communications, Religion, Gender and Sexuality, and Integradting RH among Community Based Health Programs. The project also involve scanning media coverage of RH issues.

HAIN now acts as chair of the Public Information and Education Committee of the Reproductive Health and Advocacy Network.

Communicating for Advocacy (CFA) Project
The goal of the project is to develop capacity of community groups to influence policy and practice in South and South-East Asia. It aims to develop capacity for information exchange and skills transfer by health and development agencies.

This project involves four partner organization including HAIN, Healthlink Worldwide-UK, Cambodia Health Education Media Service (CHEMS-Cambodia) and Social Assistance and Rehabilitation of the Physically Vulnerable (SARPV-Bangladesh).

The workshop is designed to meet the needs of NGOs and community-based organizations in their advocacy as they improve the health and quality of life of marginalized and vulnerable people. The focus of the training workshop is to promote people’s health by enhancing capabilities in communicating for advocacy, and to develop supportive networks.

To date, several workshops among community groups were conducted and various in-country advocacy activities have benefited from the knowledge and skills the participants learned from the CFA workshops. A publication will soon be produced to showcase the different experiences of the community groups on how they carry on their own advocacy activities in their localities.