Health, gender, family (English)

[2L01] Scalable and Sustainable Adaptive Solutions to COVID-19 Disruptions in Family Planning (FP) Health Service Delivery in the Philippines

*Leslie Advincula LOPEZ¹, *Jessica Sandra Claudio¹, *Haraya Marikit Mendoza¹ (1. Ateneo de Manila University)

キーワード：COVID-19 disruptions, family planning, health delivery systems

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended life in all corners of the world. In the Philippines, the pandemic exacerbated challenges experienced by an already-fragmented health system. Imposed mobility restrictions resulted in widespread disruptions in health service delivery and affected health programs, as they restricted the mobility of patients and service providers alike. Among the health programs negatively affected by the pandemic is the family program (FP) of the Philippines. Through interviews and focus group discussions with key health stakeholders in the country’s FP program, the paper systematically documented and assessed adaptive solutions to ensure the continuity of essential FP health services across the continuum of care. The study was conducted in 12 sites across the country, which are also partners of USAID Philippines’ Health Project. In fragile and disaster-prone environments with weak governance frameworks, international development agencies such as USAID work together with national and local health partners to co-produce unique development outcomes. The study identified four scalable and sustainable FP adaptations: 1) increased acceptance of technology use in health service delivery; 2) flexible arrangements to reduce burden on health workers while maximizing FP acceptance; 3) supportive and consistent health policies across different levels of health service delivery; and 4) local government support. These adaptations require multilevel integration across health programs and delivery systems, which allows partners at lower levels to be guided accordingly and to receive additional resources for proper implementation. In addition, these mitigating measures have policy and program implications that are now being woven into health governance shifts in the country, such as the rollout of the Universal Health Care Law and the stronger push for more local autonomy. Thus, in order to ensure sustainability of these efforts, there is a need to push for the harmonization of the national and local health system governance.