System Strengthening

Roots of Health has been working as the only non-government reproductive health service provider since 2009. In this time, we have grown and adapted our approach to solving health issues in Palawan.

Most recently, we have expanded beyond just sexual health education and clinical services to also support and strengthen existing systems for the people of Palawan. This has included partnering with the government within different levels, as well as ensuring there is a continuous supply of contraceptive inventory for Palawenos, regardless of their channel of access.

Governance

Roots of Health provides support to government partners to help them better coordinate and facilitate reproductive health services. This includes the establishment of Municipal Implementation Teams (MITs).

These teams consist of trained municipal leaders, health providers, teachers, and young Palawenos so that there can be a sustainable mechanism for progress in these communities. The MITs coordinate programs to increase access to reproductive health information and services, particularly for young people.

By utilizing a holistic approach to advocacy, our MITs work with the government to improve reproductive health by linking rural and provincial health offices. Similarly, through the MITs, we can establish better connections, protocols, and communication channels so as to ensure that reproductive health services can be implemented with stronger foundations across the island of Palawan and the Philippines.

We create local implementation teams throughout Palawan to support reproductive health and curb teenage pregnancy and HIV rates.

Health Worker Training

We provide training to health workers from private and government medical institutions. We train health workers like nurses and midwives about contraceptives and reproductive health to address gaps in their knowledge surrounding the use of contraceptives.

We hope to not only improve existing services but also help promote a more positive and supportive attitude towards the reproductive health needs of the community.

We taught 1162 Barangay Health Workers (BHU) and 112 Rural Health Workers (RHU) in 2017

91% of respondents were more comfortable providing contraceptives to young people who were sexually active after going through our training

Inventory Support

In order to prevent stock outages of contraceptives and the resulting unplanned pregnancies that occur as a result, Roots of Health provides government health facilities with buffer stocks when needed.

We found that one of the major issues in the remote communities of Palawan was the lack of resources and the availability of contraceptives. Furthermore, inventory or stocks were not frequently replenished. Hence, we have partnered with public and private health institutions to ensure that there is a constant supply of contraceptive and reproductive health products across Palawan.

This will ensure that both men and women will have access to contraceptive and reproductive health products across the island.