COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSING 2 | Unit 5
CURRENT TRENDS IN PUBLIC HEALTH: GLOBAL AND NATIONAL
Lawrence Quincy Quiaño | A. Y. 2023 - 2024
Outline:
I. Introduction
II. Emerging And Re-Emerging Diseases and
Pandemics
III. Changes In Surveillance
IV. Non-Communicable Diseases
V. Budget Cuts
VI. Infrastructure Needs
VII. Digital Health
VIII. Workforce Shortage
INTRODUCTION
• For the past years, there had been so many changes that
brought positive impact in the public health sectors at the
national and global level. However, professionals and the
healthcare systems continue to face unprecedented
challenges in the areas of technology and
interdisciplinary approaches, emerging and re-emerging
diseases and pandemics, needs in the public health
workforce, and distribution of gains in the communities
among others which are evident in areas which are least
likely able to cope with the problems. As we continue to
progress in terms of advancing the healthcare and its
system to the public by providing access and services,
problems still arise and becoming even more challenging
that needs addressing: it is a long game to be played.
EMERGING AND RE-EMERGING DISEASES AND
PANDEMICS
• one of the trends that is of great concern at present. We
have faced and experience many outbreaks of emerging
diseases and we continue to be susceptible of re-
emerging diseases such as tuberculosis, dengue, and
meningococcemia. The world today was thrown a
challenge brought about by the Coronavirus known as
CoViD-19. Every healthcare system of the countries
affected by the pandemic was shaken for it was
unprepared for what was about to come. In Philippines,
there had been measures that were imposed in the
containment and prevention of the spread of the virus but
it was still a challenge for the government for reasons that
the healthcare institutions lack isolation facilities, budgets
were cut low for the health care sectors, low number of
health professionals to cater with the growing number of
infected persons, congestion in urban areas where
informal settlers dwell and personal reasons of people
affected by the hard lockdown such as low income
families need to work in order to provide food for their
families. These events must be a call not only at the
national level but on a global scale that there should be
an implementation of better global health reporting and
surveillance mechanisms.
CHANGES IN SURVEILLANCE
• surveillance or the systematic collection, analysis,
dissemination, and sharing of information related to
public health events such as prompt identification of any
outbreaks or anything that is of global-scale importance
which could assist in public health responses such as
security measures, means to contain and control, and
continuous monitoring of trends over time of health
events. However, there is still a need to better the
surveillance and response mechanisms of every
healthcare system of every country. In the Philippines, the
health sector continues to find ways in improving the
surveillance system of the country. During the pandemic,
Jabinal
IT and health experts were able to find a solution that
could easily monitor individuals and the places they have
been into through the QR-codes registration on their
quarantine passes but there are too many limits within the
surveillance system and close contact monitoring. These
should be addressed the soonest not just for the present
pandemic but for the possibilities of future challenges.
NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
• are diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases,
diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases. NCDs now
accounts to a prevalence as high as 40% according to
Joseph Barboza, a physician and director of IntraHealth
International in Senegal. He also pointed that it was
infectious diseases that brought people to the Emergency
Room, now most of the cases are from NCDs. The World
Health Organization projected an increase by double of
the number of people who are overweight and obese
from 2005 to 2015. What was believed to be a thing of the
rich people, three quarters of the burden of NCDs fall on
low- and middle-income countries and continually rising.
More so when these countries have limited resources and
neglect on the health priorities. In the Philippines, NCDs
cause 68% of all deaths and 29% probability of dying
before the age of 70 from one of the four main NCDs.
These may also result in high human and economic costs
by subsequently affecting individuals and directly
affecting the participation in the labor force: missed days
at work (absenteeism) and decrease workout capacity
during work (presenteeism). The government through the
Department of Health is committed in battling NCDs has
made significant efforts in its prevention and control.
BUDGET CUTS
• reflected a public healthcare system that suffered from the
cutbacks of budget from the government. These affects
the delivery of health services in the community, public
health positions that have been entirely eliminated due to
constraints in funding, and health infrastructures that shall
cater to the needs of the people. In the Philippines, the
budget allocated for health services that was approved
was 4.1 trillion as national budget for 2020, however, it
was cut down by 10 billion despite the country presently
facing a challenge on the re-emergence of polio
epidemic, dengue and measles outbreaks that have
affected so many live especially that of the children and it
only shows how the healthcare of the country is poorly
given the much-needed attention. The chronic lack of
investment into the healthcare system or public health
would eventually affect the health of its people.
INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS
• without a functioning infrastructure, public health cannot
deal with the increasing number of health needs in the
community or of the population in general. It is the only
way that the health workforce will be able to continue to
provide services to its people. There numerous ways to
achieve that the needs of the health sector will be
provided for such as efficient health financing policies,
ensure appropriate public health spending, and
optimizing equitable budgetary allocations to ensure
sufficiency. In the Philippines, there is what we call as
Health Facility Development Bureau (HFDB) that
developed the first Philippine Hospital Development Plan
(PHDP) to create a more responsive hospital system and
was expanded in 2008 as the Philippine Health Facility
Enhancement Program (HFEP) increasing its coverage in
the barangays and local facilities such as Rural Health
Units and Barangay Health Centers ensuring a better
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 COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSING 2 | Unit 5
CURRENT TRENDS IN PUBLIC HEALTH: GLOBAL AND NATIONAL
Lawrence Quincy Quiaño | A. Y. 2023 - 2024
access to health care for the poor and those living in the Many global health issues can have direct impact on the health
remote areas of the country. of the Filipino people. The global trends as mentioned above
is always directed to what we have and have not achieved.
DIGITAL HEALTH
There is so much work in a global and national scale if we plan
• information and communications technology have gained
popularity in the recent years and have made its way into on achieving the best possible healthcare system and services
the different sectors such as business, education, finance, and materializing a better and healthy future for all. People
and even health. The digital platform incorporated into should continue to aim higher and push further together with
the health system has provided beneficial in terms of data the support of the government in attaining the MDGs and
or information collection, storage, retrieval, and SDGs.
transmittal. It has made the system more efficient. The
Philippines have started to utilize the healthcare
information system in its services although linkages may END OF TRANSCRIPTION
somewhat be difficulty because of the different systems
used. The country must always keep up with the ever-
changing systems and issues surrounding the digital
platform such as linkages, data security, data processing,
skilled in using the technology etc.

WORKFORCE SHORTAGE
• according to the 2017 Global Health Observatory, there
are 43.5 million health workers in the world and nearly
50% of these numbers are from the nursing and midwifery
departments. However, it has been reported by 50% of
the WHO Member States that there are less than 3 nursing
and midwifery personnel in 1000 population and 25%
reported to have less than 1 per 1000. In the Philippines,
nursing shortage is reflected in long queues at the
hospitals or public health centers, the long wait for at the
emergency rooms for admission, the nurse-to-patient
ratios in institutions which according to the Philippine
Nurses’ Association is 1:60 which is far from the ideal that
is 1:12.

Number of nurses in the Philippines as of April 2020, (by

region per 10,000 population)
Region Nurses/10,000
Population
Cordillera Administrative 14.8
Region (CAR)
National Capital Region 12
(NCR)
Region 2 – Cagayan Valley 11.4
Region 1 – Ilocos 10.5
Region 7 – Central Visayas 9.9
Region 9 – Zamboanga 9
Peninsula
Region 10 – Northern 8.8
Mindanao
Region 12 – 7.8
SOCCSKSARGEN
Region 13 - Caraga 7.4
Region 5 - Bicol 7.3
Region 3 – Central Luzon 7.2
Region 6 – Western Visayas 6.8
Region 11 – Davao 6.7
Region 8 – Eastern Visayas 6.6
Region 4A - CALABARZON 6.3
Region 4B – MIMAROPA 5.5
Bangsamoro Autonomous 3.8
Region in Muslim Mindanao
(BARMM)

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