Native hammock used to promote health
By Ben Moses Ebreo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:45:00 12/23/2008
Filed Under: Customs & Traditions, indigenous people, Health, Regional authorities
ASIPULO, Ifugao – Pula is one of the remote villages amid the rice terraces in Asipulo, Ifugao. It can be reached in an hour of rugged land travel from Lagawe, the provincial capital.
The mountain trail is so rough that Donnie Bahingawan, 25, a mother of two, said she could have delivered a baby on the way to the nearest health center. “If not for our ayod (hammock), many of us would have suffered difficult and unsafe maternal deliveries,” Bahingawan said.
According to provincial officials, the ayod has become a symbol of community oneness and unified action for health programs. It serves as an indigenous ambulance that is traditionally carried by men and guided by women.
It is the product of Ifugao creativity and community spirit through the traditional ubbu (bayanihan or community cooperation) during planting and harvest time.
Catching fire
“It is now catching fire but to other villages, there is a need for a push,” said Gov. Teodoro Baguilat Jr.
The ayod is made of woven rattan or, in emergency cases, a large cloth or blanket, where both ends are attached to a wooden or bamboo pole.
As one of the indigenous health care systems in Ifugao’s reproductive health programs, the ayod, which was adopted in 2006, is now being practiced in three sitio (sub-villages) of Pula and 13 villages of Asipulo. It is also being practiced in the towns of Lagawe and Tinoc.
The Ayod Community Health Teams (CHTs) are health units in the villages that support and promote reproductive health based on its integration in the local governments’ ordinances on health care, Agnes Aliman, national information officer of the United Nations Information Center, said.
The UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) assist Ifugao’s community-based reproductive health programs through information, education and communication campaigns, provision of health and clinical facilities and equipment, training and formation of women’s organization in the villages.
A CHT is composed of the barangay chair as leader, a rural health midwife as co-leader and barangay health workers, barangay nutrition scholars, village councilor on health, two male volunteers, two female volunteers and traditional birth attendants or hilot.
The teams are tasked with conducting health promotion activities within the village and ensuring that health programs, projects and activities are integrated into the barangay development plan.
They also hold parents’ classes on reproductive health, conduct listing and tracking of pregnant women in the village, assist couples in preparing birth plans, and advise pregnant women to deliver in health facilities.
They are also responsible for reporting maternal and under-five deaths to the municipal health office and helping in campaigns against malaria, dengue, TB (tuberculosis) and rabies and environmental sanitation activities.
Localized MDG
“We are here to see that our Millennium Development Goals are now localized in the villages,” Aliman said.
Ifugao’s health programs focus on the MDG’s eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, she said.
According to the health workers, more clients are now seeking health care because of the upgrading and improvement of facilities in the villages and the promotion and communication of reproductive health programs and services.
Driven by their empowerment as a community, the villagers, mostly women, have also formed organizations that provide livelihood and credit assistance to support their health care requirements.
The 40-member Panyagudan (sharing of goodness) Multi-Purpose Association (PMPA) in Pula, for instance, is involved in microcredit lending, providing soft loans ranging from P1,000 to P5,000 among members for reproductive health services, hospitalization and emergency purposes. The UNFPA granted the PMPA a P50,000 seed capital in June 2007.
Empowered
“We are also monitoring the proper use of their loan so that its purpose is really attained and members are also encouraged to recruit applicants,” said Juanita Pugong, 43, the PMPA chair.
Women’s organizations were so empowered that the Liwon Women’s Organization (LWO) in Asipulo succeeded in its demand to the village council to regulate drinking of liquor in their village after some community conflicts had been blamed on drunkenness among men.
“In fact, [village women] are now involved in a bottom-up process of planning. In this way, their needs are properly identified, prioritized and sufficiently funded,” said Asipulo Mayor Armando Dumilod.
Dumilod expressed hope that reproductive health programs in the villages would be sustained even with the change in political leadership since the planning process was a result of community participation based on its members’ priority needs and requirements.
|
