Advocacy amidst the pandemic

Why develop an advocacy plan?

Everyone, regardless of one’s social status or ethnicity, is capable to influence or make

their positive opinions known to other people. It is crucial to learn how to make use of
one’s voice when it comes to important issues in the society. By developing an advocacy
plan, not only it will be helpful, but it will also be considered as an intellectual alarm
clock for some people who lack social sympathy and common knowledge.

This advocacy plan focuses on the common and obvious loophole in the society today.
Now that we are going through the unusual way of dealing with the usual stuff we do,
the global problem or global pandemic, formally known as the Corona Virus Disease
2019 (Covid 19) has introduced us to the New Normal.

Corona Virus Disease 2019 (Covid19) was first known or had started spreading in the
late November to early December of 2019. It is an infectious disease that causes
respiratory problems making it one of the most fatal viruses in history. Because of the
pandemic situation, World Health Organization (WHO) has presented Healthcare
Protocols such as (1) Wash the hands regularly (2) Maintain social distancing (3)
Unessential mass gatherings are prohibited and (4) Avoid crowded places. Staying
inside the house has become common and going out has now become one of the things
we must not do.

Yes, welcome to the New Normal.

Problem

Throughout the years, Philippine Medical/Healthcare Sectors or Department of Health

(DOH), if not lacking, has been falling off short when it comes to financial support. Not
to mention the lack of support in healthcare facilities and medical equipment, the
unlawful pay roll, inconsistent support, and even the unavailability of healthcare
benefits for medical workers are still one of the serious issues we are facing until today.
In the shortest and simplest explanation, medical workers are still underprivileged and
financially deprived given the fact that they have contributed major support not only
during the previous years, but also during the new normal or the present year.

The medical workers have been working vigorously and are given impossible
workloads since the pandemic had started. Now, this is normal since everyone rely on
them, them being the only ones who have been in medical school, possessing enough
knowledge, and are well experienced to supervise the assistance and welfare of the
Filipino people.
The main problem is the government of the Philippines had failed to develop an early
remedy or immediate plan for the Covid 19. There have been a lot of issues circulating
in every social media platform regarding this matter. The government could have been
early to close all the travel gates to minimize the probability of spreading the virus in
the Philippines. Instead of investing in the economical and/or infrastructure growth, the
government could have focused on making sure that the Filipino people are far from
catching the virus. It was obvious that the hospitals in the Philippines do not have the
budget, facilities, mass medical equipment, and manpower to accommodate the people
IF it has spread all over the country.

Because of the failed supervision (which was obvious and predictable) people are dying
because of the fatality rate of Covid19, hospitals are almost incapable of accommodating
the infected as well as the people who are not infected but still need medical supports,
medical workers are given impossible workloads and the real down side of this is they
are not given enough credits, they are underpaid, and there are workers who haven’t
received any salary for how many months already yet they still do their jobs.

The lack of financial and moral support for the medical field, had led to many problems.
The workers started to feel the exhaustion, the shortcomings of whoever to blame were
becoming clearer, some of the workers were already infected, because of their
unhealthy routines cause of overworking, their immune system was challenged and
soon after left compromised.

If only the medical sector had given enough support, the manpower would have
become more powerful. If only the medical workers were given enough support,
credits, payroll accuracy, then every worker could have been very positive and support-
fed.

Goal

This advocacy aims to give credits and as well as educate people how important it is to
address the unfair support and discredits our healthcare workers have been receiving.
This will act as the bullet list of the things our healthcare workers truly deserve.

The short-term goal of this advocacy is to be useful when it comes to pointing out the
loophole in the system where medical workers are taken for granted and are not given
importance. This issue should be known, and people should have the knowledge that
this kind of problem really exists.

The intermediate goal of this advocacy is to change the system where the medical
workers should always come first because they sacrifice their tears, sweat, and blood,
for the welfare of the people. The medical sectors should be given all kinds of support
they need.

The long-term goal of this advocacy is to make a permanent change when it comes to
sector bias. The government should have its eyes open to see the importance of stable
medical support. By taking one step at a time, all the issues are meant to be taken care
of.

Audiences

The target audiences of this advocacy plan are:

Powerful Influencers in Medical Field – such as the famous and respected

doctors all throughout the country. They will be a big help when it comes to
spreading the objectives of this advocacy.

People of the Philippines – the people of the Philippines need to know that to
make a change, they should partake in the first big step. They must become
speakers themselves.

Resources and Assets

Social Media – social media is a great platform to make a campaign about this advocacy.
It is a trend-setter, and it will surely reach a lot of people.
Manpower – there should be a lookout for people who will share the same advocacy. By
doing this, it will be easy to find the right people to speak out to the public about this.
Gadgets – gadgets are useful and without these, social media is out of reach.

Strategy and Tactics

Opponents – it is sure that not all people share the same principles and ideas. Some
people might find something else as more important than our advocacy and offered
change. The people now are very competitive and self-proclaimed about knowing it all.
Remedy – it is very important to educate instead of hate, otherwise this will fail. Given
the fact that some people do not share the same principles and ideas, it would be better
to let them know why our advocacy should be given attention and immediate action.
Educating them gives us the chance to also make them join our group and perform the
same to make the change.

Evaluation

The healthcare worker are the indicators and as well as the assessors if there has been
any change because of our advocacy. Monthly conversation, interview, and check ups
are enough to know if there are steps indicating small changes and success.