| Primary Health Care |
| Rational Drug Use |
| HIV/AIDS |
| Gender Sexuality and Reproductive Health |
Communicating for
Advocacy |
Resource Center
Services and Activities |
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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
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HAIN maintains international networks with some advocacy campaign groups. HAIN is the secretariat of the 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 which is an international action-research initiative, and the , 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.
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Advocacy on Primary Health Care
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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.
The earliest newsletter HAIN published was 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 many 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 explains the facts behind the cold figures of morbidity, mortality and malnutrition, while presents information on the health care system in the Philippines after the snap revolution of 1986.
HAIN took part at the held on December, 2000 in Bangladesh and in July 2006 in Ecuador. Several international organizations and civil society movements, NGOs women’s groups and other groups committed to the principles of primary health care organized the gathering. HAIN is the secretariat of the in the Philippines and endorses the People's Charter for Health.
Since 2003, HAIN revived the newsletter to reach more audience by covering the Asia Pacific region. The publication provides practical, up-to-date, relevant and accurate health information for health, community and education workers in Asia and the Pacific.
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Advocacy on Rational Drug Use
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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 , 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 , 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 such as the following:
- serve as the proceedings of the workshops on Essential Drugs Policy and Rational Drug Use which was sponsored by HAIN in coordination with Philippine Drug Action Network.
- is a compilation of 16 articles about problems relating to the use of medicines in different parts of the world
- points out that what makes a drug a problem is not so much its inherent pharmacological risks, but the way it is prescribed and used.
- questions common assumptions about the contribution of drugs and the drug industry to the nation’s health, both in the medical and in the economic sense.
- described the people’s ideas about drug use, including concepts of illness causation, drug efficacy and criteria for choice of therapy, were analyzed.
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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, “”, which discusses not just about the medical aspects of HIV but also social, ethical and moral issues.
Also during that time, our newsletter, , 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 , 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 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.
HAIN’s analytical presentation of the HIV/AIDS situation in the country is deeply discussed in the book, , 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 (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 Women and HIV/AIDS Network (WHAN) in the Philippines.
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Advocacy on Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive Health
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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 has 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 to look into risk perceptions among young people relating to sex. Years later, HAIN was commissioned to implement the qualitative phase of the 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 2005, HAIN was commissioned by the UNICEF to conduct the study on "Knowledge, Attitude, Practices and Behavior of Filipino Youth and Health Workers." The result of this study was published by UNICEF.
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Communicating for Advocacy (CFA) Project
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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, , 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.
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Resource Center Services and Activities:
Networking and Advocacy Through Information Sharing |
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, one of HAIN’s core programs, gathers and consolidates a wide range of information materials and strategically disseminates information through its inquiry services and library facilities.
HAIN also utilizes information technology such as websites and electronic mailing lists to provide information to a wider audience. The website also provides up-to-date information on latest activities or resource materials available in our resource center.
HAIN is a member of the Moderators Team for the or the Philippine Reproductive Health, an electronic group which provides venue for information exchange on reproductive health issues in the Philippines.
HAIN also conducts training and consultations intended for key persons in the resource center from different local and international organizations, the academe and local government units. These training and consultations also serve as venue for networking among resource centers. For instance, the Pinoy_RCG or Philippine Resource Center Group was set up wherein members from different resource centers continue to consult, share and expand their knowledge on library management.
HAIN continues to develop links with Source International Information Support Center (the resource center arm of , a long-time partner of HAIN). Source is a network of health resource centers in developing countries.
The resource center staff of HAIN are also members of the (MAHLAP). HAIN also links up with local resource centers such as by donating to them duplicate copies of HAIN materials.
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