Work With Women
We form and run community based women’s groups in which participants are encouraged to understand their health needs in relation to sexuality, reproduction, and family life. Through regular workshop sessions and informal opportunities to discuss issues and ask questions, women are empowered to take charge of their own lives, improve their health, plan their pregnancies and take responsibility for their families. The meetings we facilitate are also opportunities for community building — a chance for women to exchange ideas with other women and speak about their experiences and their lives. We provide programming for regular group meetings and counseling for the special needs of individuals or groups as specific needs arise.
Reproductive Health Session Photos
Healthy Pregnancies
A second priority of Roots of Health is our Healthy Pregnancy Program. If and when our clients do become pregnant, whether planned or unintended, we provide services to help ensure that the pregnancy will be the healthiest possible – both for the mother and the baby. These services include providing health information on nutrition and fitness, supplying the women with prenatal vitamins and providing regular prenatal check ups with the ROH nurse. We also facilitate referrals to obstetricians and gynecologists in Palawan if one of our clients has a high-risk pregnancy or needs more medical attention than our nurse can provide. Many of our clients choose to deliver in the Palawan public hospital, but when our clients opt to deliver their babies at home, we make the ROH nurse available and on-call so that she can attend their home-births and help ensure a safe delivery for both mother and baby.
We believe that we are helping to create communities in which women, whether mothers or not, work together for their own health as well as the health of children. Healthier women and mothers lead to healthier babies and children, families and ultimately healthier communities. Thus while our programs are focused on women and children, we believe that we can ultimately have a real and lasting impact on entire communities.
In accordance with Philippine Law, Roots of Health does not fund, promote, or assist women seeking abortions.
Roots of Health supports women with life-saving information about how to protect their health and how to plan their pregnancies. Providing comprehensive education on reproductive health is an integral first step in preventing unplanned pregnancies. We believe that when women are equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary for controlling their fertility, the number of unplanned pregnancies will decrease, as will the need for abortions.
Nutritional Support
We believe that healthy mothers have healthy children. Therefore, we provide our clients with nutritious snacks and meals three times a week to bolster their food intake.Feeding Program Photos
To bolster and make the Nutritional Support Program more sustainable we launched the Vertical Garden Lease Program. Vertical Gardens are tall, cylindrical containers with holes for plants in the sides. This means they take up less space than conventional gardens. An irrigation tube in the center of the container reduces the amount of water needed. The soil mixed with compost and carbonized rice hull to increase fertility. For a nominal deposit, women can rent a vertical garden and we set it up. The gardens allow women to grow their own organic, nutritious vegetables for their own family’s consumption. We provide the women with seeds and maintenance support to ensure that every garden is being used to its full potential. The gardens are especially important in Pulang Lupa where the soil is contaminated with Mercury.
Vertical Garden Photos
Reproductive Health
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We aim to maintain the health of the women in the community by providing them with reproductive health check ups, and with dispensing contraceptives to women who request them.
Our community sites are underserved and most of our clients do not have regular access to health professionals, and only seek medical attention when they or one of their children are sick. We seek to provide preventative care to the women in our community. The Roots of Health nurses conduct weekly check ups covering reproductive health as well as general health issues and concerns. In addition to providing exams and medicines where appropriate, our nurses also educate and advise the women on health matters for themselves and their families.
Community Health Photos
