ACTIVITY 1:

URL: https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1155109?
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TITLE OF ARTICLE: PH CONTINUES LEVERAGING ICT SOLUTIONS FOR HEALTH

MANILA – Officials of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on Wednesday said the country will
continue to leverage information and communications technology (ICT) for health.
"ICT for health is among our research priority areas. One of our goals in utilizing ICT is to bring health solutions
closer to the patients -- the same goal which prompted (a team of researchers) to pursue the 'Aruga para sa Batang
may Cancer' or ABC Initiative," DOST Secretary Fortunato de la Peña said in a virtual presser.
The initiative, he said, aims to develop a website that will bring "aruga" or care closer to pediatric cancer patients. To
do this, there is a need to establish a platform that will provide the following: learning management system (LMS)
with learning materials focused on palliative care for healthcare professionals and primary caregivers of pediatric
patients with cancer; a pediatric oncology registry for health facility administrators; and a telemedicine platform for
rural health units (RHUs), city health centers, and tertiary healthcare facilities in the National Capital Region, Region
V, Region VII, and XI.
De la Peña said the DOST has been supporting this initiative. "To date, the LMS already catered to 225 healthcare
institutions across the country, with 134 physicians enrolled to the Pediatric Palliative Care certification course, and
794 nurses registered to the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) certification course," he said. These
courses enhance the expertise of healthcare workers on palliative care services for pediatric cancer patients.
The DOST chief noted that by leveraging ICT for health, experts can forecast the spread of coronavirus disease 2019
(Covid-19), enabling them to provide inputs for strategies to combat or curve the number of cases.
He said that the team behind the Feasibility Analysis of Syndromic Surveillance using Spatio-Temporal
Epidemiological Modeler for Early Detection of Diseases (FASSSTER) project that the DOST also supported had
enhanced the FASSSTER application (app).
"Initially, the application was intended for creating predictive models and visualizing possible scenarios of outbreaks
for dengue, typhoid fever, and measles, at specified periods," he said.
The team had enhanced FASSSTER to generate predictive models for Covid-19, to forecast the number of confirmed
cases at a given area and a specified period. "This will serve as a support tool for decision-makers in implementing
evidence-based measures that will mitigate the spread of Covid-19," he remarked.
They were successful in making FASSSTER generate disease models which can help the users project the effects of
interventions such as community quarantine and current health capacities on the total number of confirmed cases,
recoveries, according to de la Peña.
"To date, the technology has been adopted by the Department of Health as the official monitoring tool for Covid-19 in
the country. The team continues to assist DOH in updating the models and analytics for continuous monitoring of
Covid-19 by national agencies and local government units," he said.
DOST Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said these two research works continue to become relevant in
addressing emerging healthcare problems.
"The impact of ICT in overcoming healthcare barriers was made more apparent by Covid-19. With this, we gladly
supported the development of new ICT technologies. We hope that these projects were able to demonstrate how our
support for ICT for health research, and R&D (research and development) as a whole, goes a long way, allowing us
to address persisting health concerns," she said.
Guevara added that the DOST is committed to pushing for high-impact R&D that provides accessible health solutions
for every Filipino. (PNA)

ACTIVITY 2
COVID-19 in the Philippines
Level 3: High Level of COVID-19 in the Philippines

Key Information for Travelers to the Philippines

The CDC recommends that all travellers be up to date with COVID-19 vaccines before
traveling. Anyone 2 years or older should properly wear a well-fitting mask in indoor
public spaces. Getting vaccinated is still the best way to protect yourself from severe
disease and slow the spread of COID-19. If you are not vaccinated and up to date with
your COVID-19 vaccines, get tested with a viral test as close to the time of departure as
possible (no more than 3 days) before your trip. Make sure your test result is negative
and you remain without symptoms before traveling. If your test comes back positive
while you are at your destination, you will need to isolate and postpone your return until
it's safe.
If you have been exposed to coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States, stay away
from contact with others who have not been vaccinated and who are not up to date with
their COVID 19 vaccines. Wearing a mask over your nose and mouth is required in
indoor areas of public transportation. All air passengers to the United States are also
required to provide contact information to airlines before boarding flights. This
strengthens a travel process already in place to rapidly identify and contact people in
the U.S. who may have been exposed to communicable disease, such as COVID-19.

1. What is URL of site you are evaluating?

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/covid-3/coronavirus-philippines?
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2. What is the title of the website? COVID-19 in the Philippines Level 3: High Level of COVID-
19 in the Philippines Key Information for Travellers to the Philippines