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We envision self-reliant women, young people and families leading healthy reproductive lives in the Philippines.

Roots of Health has been operating in Palawan as the only reproductive health organization for 14 years. Given the lack of support for our issue areas, ROH is providing the majority of reproductive health services on the island. These are the realities that have fueled our work and programming.
This is why we need to do more.

Roots of Health was established in 2009 by Dr. Susan Evangelista and her daughter, Amina Evangelista Swanepoel. Susan was teaching at Palawan State University (PSU) in Puerto Princesa and was concerned about unplanned pregnancies and the lack of reproductive health knowledge among her students. Amina had just completed a double Masters Degree in International Affairs and Public Health at Columbia University in New York City.

The two women felt that together they could share reproductive health lessons with women and young people in marginalized communities, thereby improving health and the general quality of life in this impoverished province of the Philippines.

Roots of Health began as a modest team in 2009, as three full-time staff members working out of their homes. We provided reproductive health classes at Palawan State University and in one community. Less than a year later, our clients started asking for clinical services. Susan and Amina realized that reproductive health knowledge needed to be matched with easily available, high-quality, free services and thus hired our first nurse to begin our approach of coupling education and services.

Thanks to support from the community and donors, we have grown our staff and programs over the years. We continue to operate in our two-pronged approach, education and service provision, as we’ve grown into the 20+ person team we are today.

The Roots of Health team is a family of passionate, committed, and thoughtful individuals. Our full-time staff sit within our clinical, youth, media, admin, executive and M&E teams. No matter what their individual roles, we all keep women, adolescents, and the girls of Palawan at the center of our day-to-day work. Our team is the biggest it’s been since our inception, and we remain committed to strengthening the team’s capacity.

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