ASOG holds brown bag session on Barangay Health Workers study

The Ateneo School of Government, through the Ateneo Policy Center, recently conducted a brown bag session to discuss the study entitled “Barangay Health Workers: A neglected but important component of the health value chain for Universal Health Care in the Philippines”. The discussion was held on January 20, 2023, led by APC Senior Research Fellow Dr. Kenneth Y. Hartigan-Go and attended by over a hundred onsite and online participants from the healthcare sector, local government units, and the academe.

In his presentation, Dr. Hartigan-Go tackled the key challenges that barangay health workers (BHWs) face in their line of work, revealing how BHWs deal with excessive workload, meager compensation, and persistent politicization. Several recommendations were also put forward to improve their conditions and capacitate them in line with the Universal Health Care Act.

Various experts weighed in on the subject, including Dr. Philip Tuaño, Dean of ASOG, Dr. Cenon Alfonso, Dean of Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH), Dr. Alberto Ong, Secretary-General of the Philippine Society of Public Health Physicians (PSPHP), and Dr. Alberto Teodoro Malvar, the Lead for Dr. Rosita G. Leong Hub for Primary Physician Formation. ASOG's development partner, AIA Philippines (represented by Mr. Maximilian Ventura, Ms. Diane Madulid, and Ms. Regina Custodio), also joined the discussion