The two-year project for the development of community disaster management that integrates basic healthcare and food security is underway in four poor urban communities in Cebu City, Philippines. It is implemented by Visayas Primary Healthcare Services, Inc. (VPHCS) in collaboration with CADIS International and with the support of the Italian Episcopal Conference.
The project areas include the following informal settlements in Cebu City: Sitio Lawis, Barangay Pasil, Sitio Tierra Dulce, Barangay Inayawan, Sitio Wang Yu, Barangay Mambaling, and Sitio Nangka Ville, Barangay Quiot.
All project areas, with a total population of 972 families, are vulnerable to fires. Many houses are mostly built of wood, bamboo, hard plastic, and other light materials, with galvanized iron sheet roofs, while only a few houses are made of concrete. The housing units are located a couple of meters from each other in congested environments, with only small alleys sufficient for one or two people to walk through. All areas are also subject to flooding due to poor drainage.
The project began with a meeting between the project staff and members of the people's organizations (POs) in June 2023. During the meetings, the project was discussed, a collaboration agreement was signed, and a system for planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation was formulated. All four POs enthusiastically expressed their support for the project.
The unification of the project was followed by meetings between the project staff and the leaders of the four POs with the barangay councils of the four project areas in June 2023, and the three parties in each barangay signed a separate memorandum of understanding to cooperate in the project. Copies of a project brochure were distributed to PO members and municipal councilors.
In June and July, a one-day seminar on community-based disaster management (CBDM) was organized for each PO. Topics covered included the definition of disaster, risk, vulnerability and capacity, the different types of disasters, sectors vulnerable to the effects of disasters, and the national and local disaster situation. The last topic was an orientation on CBDM, its history in the Philippines, objectives, characteristics, and the formation of the Community Disaster Management Committee (CDMC) in each area. Each seminar was attended by the officials and members of the PO.
The CBDM seminars were followed by three-day seminars on Participatory Assessment of Climate and Disaster Risk (PACDR), attended by ten members of the Community Disaster Management Committee (CDMC) and five officials from each PO, as well as three members of the respective Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (BDRRM). A joint seminar was held for the POs of Sitio Nangka Ville and Sitio Wang Yu, while one seminar was held for Sitio Lawis and the third seminar for Sitio Tierra Dulce.
The training courses increased awareness of preventive actions and preparedness measures to be taken that can substantially reduce the damage caused by disasters. Participants also formulated their own Participatory Disaster Risk Assessment, which includes tools such as community mapping, resource inventory, risk analysis, and hazard mapping.
The training courses were followed by two training sessions on community-based disaster management (CBDM) planning. In August, a training course was held for the POs of Sitio Nangka Ville and Sitio Wang Yu, while in September another course was held for Sitio Tierra Dulce and Sitio Lawis. Each training lasted three days.
Ten members of the CDMC and five PO officials and five members of the barangay DRRMC worked and formulated their respective CBDM plans. The plans include activities for educating, organizing, and mobilizing community members to reduce risks and mitigate the effects of disasters.
After the disaster seminars, each PO was given disaster kits, consisting of flashlights, whistles, ropes, transistor radios, megaphones, and other items to be used by the CDMC in case of disasters.
After the disaster preparedness training, participants passed on the results of the training to other members of their organizations and the plans were implemented. In Sitio Lawis, in Pasil, association members carried out a massive cleanup of the river next to the sitio, which can overflow and cause flooding in the sitio. Women's organizations also coordinated the collection of household waste with officials from the four barangays, to minimize the indiscriminate dumping of waste that would clog household drains and prevent flooding. Women's organizations disseminated information in the communities about the dangers that can cause fires, such as the use of oil lamps, candles, mobile phone chargers, and electric fans connected and powered by makeshift electrical wires, as well as a massive educational campaign on common fire risks and safety precautions and practices for fire prevention. There was widespread collaboration among residents of the four communities.
In addition, thanks to the pressure exerted by the Women's Association of Sitio Nangka Ville on the local government unit, the barangay council of Quiot donated three fire extinguishers to the community, which were placed in the strategic homes of three association members. BDRRM firefighters also taught them how to use the equipment.
Next year, the BDRRM will conduct community-level fire drills.
Disasters inevitably involve health emergencies and communities must cope with these emergencies along with the harsh effects that occur after a fire, typhoon, or landslide. Community health workers must be trained in first aid.
In addition, it is necessary to maintain good population health, so that people do not get sick when disasters occur, or that when they do get sick they have adequate healthcare, which many cannot afford due to economic constraints, so there is also a need to empower the community in terms of primary healthcare.
For this reason, in December 2023, basic health skills training courses were organized for the health committee members of the four women's associations. In each of the two courses, lasting three days for each training and attended by two associations, community health workers (CHWs) were trained in disease prevention, health promotion, and selective curative care, i.e., primary healthcare at the community level. Topics covered included the Philippine health system, orientation on the Community-Based Health Program (CBHP), home remedies for common illnesses using water therapy, first aid, control of acute respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases among children, hypertension, and diabetes.
The last day of training was dedicated to planning health activities in the communities. These consisted of measuring blood pressure for screening and monitoring hypertension, health education on common illnesses and their home remedies, preparation of herbal medicines, cupping, and home visits to children with cough and diarrhea by trained health workers. The health skills training concluded with the distribution of health kits consisting of sphygmomanometers, stethoscopes, scales, thermometers, essential medicines, first aid materials, and other basic health supplies.
