Date: 15 Mary 2008
Time: 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Venue: Global Distance Learning Center, Asian Institute of Management
New Approaches and Strategies in Primary Health Care: A Global Concern of Nurses (Videoconference)
Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) President Dr. Leah Primitiva Paquiz underscored the role of nurses as the vanguard of primary health care and their obligation to provide quality service to people, especially the poor, during the 75th edition of the Globalization Lecture Series of the AIM Policy Center and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The lecture-forum, on the theme “New Approaches and Strategies in Primary Health Care: A Global Concern of Nurses,” was held on May 15, 2008 at the AIM-WB Global Distance Learning Center in partnership with the PNA, the professional organization of all licensed Filipino nurses, and the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The said lecture, which was also a videoconference with Singapore, Washington, DC, London and Dubai, was in part, a celebration of the nursing profession’s vital role throughout history and on the occasion of the birth anniversary of modern nursing pioneer, Florence Nightingale on May 12, observed as International Nurses’ Day.
In setting the agenda for primary health care, experts around the world acknowledge that nurses have a major role to play in helping to shift the health system away from a predominant focus on illness and cure towards increased attention on health promotion and disease prevention.
The goal in primary health care is to “protect and promote the health of all people of the world”, where health is defined not merely as the absence of illness, but in the positive sense of total “well being”. As this trend continues, people will need the support of nurses in accessing information and making good choices. Their capacity to promote advocacy and community development, as well as their communication expertise and teaching/coaching dexterity, in addition to clinical experience, are all essential in delivering and practicing primary health care principles in all settings. This was precisely what emerged as the main message from the conference among the five sites (with Makati, Philippines as the main site)—that Filipino nurses may decide on practicing in the Philippines and be lead promoters of community-based primary health care through their expertise in health management. The most valuable instrument in empowering people in a community is community organizing, in which Filipino nurses are the most fit to lead.
Even outside the country, Filipino nurses are very much involved with community organizing, specifically the Filipino-American and Asian communities, as shared by PNA of America (PNAA) representatives Victoria Navarro, Rosario Mayor and Virginia Alinsao. Among the accomplishments of Filipino nurses in the United States were identifying health needs of their communities, devising a module for a core curriculum for Filipino geriatrics, a culturally-appropriate and ethno-geriatric tool to assess cases and researches and forums on health issues affecting the Filipino migrant community.
Meanwhile, the PNA of the United Kingdom, represented by Michael Duque, explained the situation of Filipino nurses in their chapter. In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service (NHS) is the main health provider for its general public and is the largest employer in Europe. The NHS employs numerous Filipino nurses because of their skills, however, the latter encounters problems such as the limited availability of jobs, complex system of nurse management due to links with other service providers, need for the understanding of laws supporting nurses in the primary health care setting, and the limited provisions of professional development for nurses.
The international videoconference brought together nurses from around the world, mainly the foreign chapters of PNA. It also served as an avenue for Filipino migrant workers employed as nurses to exchange ideas, information and concerns from their particular host countries, and more importantly, raised further knowledge and appreciation of primary health care in the various fields of the nursing career.
Deputy Director Eric Gerardo Tamayo opened the programme on behalf of Undersecretary Edsel T. Custodio of the Department of Foreign Affairs. Other reactors were Dr. Rosalinda G. Baldoz of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) in the Makati site and Mr. Freddie Uruttia of the Filipino Nurses Association of Saudi Arabia from the Dubai site. Dr. Kenneth Ronquillo, Director IV of the Department of Health imparted the synthesis and brought the programme to a close.
