Officials of the World Health Organization from the Western Pacific Region Office, led by Director Huong Thi Giang Tran, and WHO Philippines, led by OIC Graham Perry Harrison, visited the UP Visayas Philippine Genome Center (PGC) in Miagao Iloilo on August 9, 2022.
The WHO is on a mission to strengthen relationships with the Philippines, both at the national and sub-national levels. It hopes to accomplish this by engaging in the following activities:
1. Dialogue with local health workers and stakeholders to understand the current regional, provincial, and local CD/NCD health priorities and challenges;
2. Identify and/or suggest how integration efforts can work with and strengthen local health systems;
3. Learn and identify on-the-ground evidence on how service delivery models for CD/NCD are effectively implemented in primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of care; and
4. Engage in meaningful discussions with people living with NCD/CD and the community support systems.
They also visited the Iloilo Governor’s Office, several municipalities in the 1st District of Iloilo, and the Province of Antique. The mission, likewise, included a visit to WHO-supported projects and initiatives.
At PGC Visayas, the group was received by PGC Director Victor Marco Emmanuel Ferriols, who toured them at the various laboratories.
The WHO Pacific Regional and Philippine-based officials were accompanied by representatives from DOH – Western Visayas led by Dr. Aimee Marrie Gayomali, Head of the Non-Communicable Disease Unit. (Ms. Mary Lyncen M. Fernandez with reports from Ms. Claire Samantha Juanico)
