Community Health Workers: Unsung Heroes of a Failed Health System Published on February 17, 2010

Community Health Workers: Unsung Heroes of a Failed Health System

Published on February 17, 2010
In a poor country where one out of two people dies without receiving any medical attention, where more than half of the population do not have access to basic health care, community-based health workers who provide needed services to fill this health-care gap should be heralded as heroes, not thrown to jail and tortured.

By ARNOLD PADILLA
Bulatlat.com

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MANILA — In a poor country where one out of every two people dies without receiving any medical attention, 50 percent of the population do not have access to health care, 40 percent do not have access to essential medicine, 10 mothers die daily due to pregnancy and childbirth-related causes, and 100 municipalities are doctorless and nurseless ¹ while more than 7,700 nurses, 83 doctors, and 196 professional midwives leave the country yearly ² to work abroad, trainings to equip ordinary citizens attend to the basic health needs of poor and neglected communities should be welcomed.

And a government that is sensitive to the needs of its people should support such initiative, or at least be thankful to medical professionals and volunteers who give their skills, knowledge, time, and resources in order to help bridge the widening gap in the need and availability of health services in the country.

Dr. Alex Montes ministering the sick during a medical mission in Montalban, Rizal. (Photo courtesy of CHD)

So when 43 health workers — including two medical doctors, a registered nurse, a registered midwife, and 39 community health workers — while conducting a training-seminar, were arrested and later tortured by the police and military on claims that they were making bombs, you know at once that something is seriously wrong.... MORE  

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/02/17/community-health-workers-unsung-heroes-of-a-failed-health-system/