New partnership with Asian Community Trust

The Visayas Primary Health Care Services, Inc. (VPHCS) has forged a partnership with the Asian Community Trust (ACT) to implement the project, “Building community-based health programs to promote health and prevent disease in Bohol.”

The project areas are Barangay Sto. Nino in the Municipality of San Miguel and Barangay Caluasan in the Municipality of Dagohoy. The communities have been affected by the failure of the Malinao Dam Project which has worsened their economic situation that in turn affected their health conditions. The project which started in April 2010 works with the people’s organizations in the communities, namely, the MALALA or the Mag-Uuma sa LACALSANDA Batok sa Land Levelling (Farmers in Lacalsanda against Land Leveling), the San Miguel Organic Farmers Association and the Dagohoy Farmers’ Association.

The project shall equip community health workers (CHWs) and leaders of the people’s organizations with knowledge and skills to build community based health programs which shall address the common health problems in their communities. Capacity building is a primary strategy in the project which will enable the CHWs and the leaders to launch health campaigns that will address the prevalence of common preventable and communicable diseases. Direct health services by project staff and volunteer health professionals shall also address the diseases in the communities.

The Asian Community Trust (ACT), Japan's first fund raising-style charitable trust, was established in 1979 to assist people at the grass-roots level in Asian developing countries. It has supported projects in more than five Asian countries, in fields spanning health, medical treatment, education, youth training, and development of rural communities.