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  1. Background of the Problem

Water is a basic need and according to the United Nations access to it is also a human right. It is an essential part of daily life and in maintaining good health. Safe water is utilized by humans through sanitation, food production, and hydration. Unsafe drinking water can lead to so many serious health conditions and even death. Every year many people, most especially children, suffer from dehydration and electrolyte imbalances caused by diarrheal diseases. It might be an easily preventable problem, but still many people are seriously affected by this especially those living in poverty-stricken communities where water is considered a luxury. In these areas, water sources are usually communal or public and there is no purification method used for drinking water.

In Barangay Maras, there are a couple of different water sources used by the residents and most of them are communal and are not yet confirmed to be potable.  The households situated near the highway get their drinking water from a dug wells with hand pump and a few would buy from the nearby water-refilling station. Some households are connected to the piped spring water system established by the Local Officials but the water is rationed and still limited. Along the highway, an average of 25-30 households share 1 water source. In the areas far from the main road, drinking water is taken from an open dug well or a protected spring. Purok Waling-Waling is the only purok that has no water source of its own and people would walk in distances even as far as 200 meters through dense grasslands and narrow roads on top of cliffs just to get water.  In terms of water storage and purification, the residents utilize covered containers, which most of them clean regularly, but not all purify their drinking water.

  1. Solution

To manage these problems, approaches must be focused on changing the negative practices of the community, mobilize the people, and utilize available resources to improve the situation of the water sources.

  1. Sustainability

Community involvement is the best way to ascertain sustainability of the programs that will be implemented. All throughout the process, from the identification of the problem up to the evaluation of results, the people must be actively involved to instill the sense of ownership and cooperation in them. The local leaders must also be empowered so that they will be motivated to guide the people effectively and provide independent decisions in managing the projects.

hypertension update

January 2020 implementation  

     

 

             “200/120 ang akoang blood pressure, Ma’am?!” asked Juan in his disbelief when his blood pressure was taken during a house-to-house blood pressure monitoring done by one of the medical students assigned in Barangay Maras. “Wala man gud ko gibati,” he continued. Like Juan, being asymptomatic, many are not aware that they have hypertension.

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                Despite high awareness among Filipinos about hypertension and its complications, high blood pressure remains a leading cause of death locally, earning it the moniker public enemy number one. Hypertension is often called the “silent killer” and one effective way to detect it early is through daily blood pressure monitoring. Sadly, in the recent assessment done by the medical students in Barangay Maras, Municipality of Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte, among the 417 individuals assessed, ages 18 and above, 32% were within normal range, 43% are pre-hypertensive, 16% are stage 1 hypertensive, and 8% are stage 2 hypertensive. Among the stage 1 and stage 2 hypertensive identified, 61 individuals are known hypertensive patients and only 21 (37%) individuals are compliant to their anti-hypertensive medication maintenance.

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              Sadly, it was relatively apparent that knowledge deficit on hypertension, its magnitude and severity to include its complications occupies one of the predisposing factors in relation to behaviour and attitude affecting the quality of life. Moreover, the lack of BP apparatus and anti-hypertensive drugs in the Barangay Health Station possess a significant role in the health seeking behaviour of the community.

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           In lieu with the current situation in the barangay, the medical students focused on spreading awareness about hypertension through health teachings and distributing IEC materials, launching a Maras Hypertension Health Club and empowering key leaders on proper blood pressure monitoring. Lastly, one blood pressure apparatus was donated to the Barangay Health Station.The researchers believe that the most effective foundation established to control hypertension is when an individual is motivated to medication compliance and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. By motivating the residents, the researchers are hopeful that building trust and increasing strong communication with patients and families will improve positive attitudes towards health promotion and disease prevention. By creating the Maras Hypertension Health Club and training its core members to oversee the programs and projects, the researchers believe that community awareness and support for healthy lifestyle will continue to be cultivated. The road to achieve these goals is way too long but these goals can only be realized if actions are taken now so that individuals like Juan can be benefited and be spared from more economic burden.

 

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January 2020 Accomplishments:

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  • Drafted Barangay Ordinance on Non-Communicable Disease

  • House-to-House and Mass BP Monitoring

  • Masterlist of residents with Elevated Blood Pressure according to the JNC 7 Guidelines

  • Intensified Health Education and Public Information on Hypertension

  • Launching on Maras Hypertension Health Club

  • BP Monitoring Standardization Program Practicum

  • Procurement of one blood pressure apparatus

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Upcoming Activities:

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  • Following the protocols of social distancing, wearing of face masks, disinfection, and limiting movement to only essentials in the context of COVID-19 New Normal Setting, the following upcoming activities are as follows:

    • Conduction of Trainings and Seminars

      • In line with the Health Education and Awareness Campaign, the team will conduct trainings and seminars on monitoring, case findings, classification and referrals of hypertensive patients.

    • Create an algorithm for BP referral from BHC to RHU and/or Hospital

    • Case finding, monitoring, classification and referral of hypertensive patients

      • Conduct a scheduled house-to-house survey to only at least twenty (20) household a day

      • Conduct BP monitoring during scheduled Consultation Day (limiting number of consultation to at least twenty (20) persons a day)

    • Initiate the Creation of BP Check-up stations:

      • Set up an accessible BP station for every purok assigned by a BHW or trained volunteers to monitor and record BP results

      • Provide a monitoring logbook for each BP check-up stations

    • Maras Health Board Construction

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