From the Department of Health
The Department of Health (DOH) today awarded local government units (LGUs) and health workers who shared and worked hard for the DOH’s vision of strengthening health systems to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of delivery of basic health services and enable a more equitable distribution of national health programs.
“The DOH gives these public health awards to local government units all over the country in order to leverage LGU participation in achieving Kalusugan Pangkalahatan [Universal Health Care],” acting Secretary Janette P. Loreto-Garin explained.
Dubbed as “Harmonized Awarding,” winners received trophies and cash rewards in the Kalusugan Pangkalahatan Awarding Ceremonies. The harmonized awarding is a strategy that mainstreams all program-based efforts of the LGUs and looking at such in the light of the local health systems approach.
The major award is the Excellence in Kalusugan Pangkalahatan Awards 2014 wherein the LGUs were recognized for their invaluable contribution in achieving Kalusugan Pangkalahatan. This award aims to recognize LGUs (provinces/cities/municipalities) that exhibited commendable performance on health as reflected in the DOH 2013 LGU Score Card Report. The winners were selected from among 80 provinces, 35 Highly Urbanized Cities (HUCs), 5 Independent Component Cities (ICCs), 144 Component Cities (CCs) and 1,490 Municipalities.
For the 2014 Excellence in KP Awards, there were 40 winners where the cash prize ranged from P50,000.00 to P1,000,000.00.
The Special Awards are:
- Red Orchid Hall of Fame Awards
The DOH Red Orchid Awards is the Search for 100% Tobacco-Free Provinces, Municipalities, Cities, Government Offices, Government Hospitals and DOH Centers for Health Development. It follows the World Health Organization (WHO) FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON TOBACCO CONTROL Article 8 that recommends the adoption of measures to provide protection from exposure to smoke in indoor workplaces, public transport, indoor places, and other public places, as well as REPUBLIC ACT 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003 that provides protection from exposure to tobacco smoke (Healthful Environment).
There were 16 awardees for the Red Orchid Hall of Fame.
- National Search for Barangay with Best Sanitation Practices Awards
The DOH, during the celebration of International Year of Sanitation in 2008, launched the National Search for Barangay with Best Sanitation Practices as an annual event to give recognition to LGUs at the barangay level that have demonstrated exemplary contribution in obtaining and sustaining our targets under the Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation and have demonstrated good practices on its programs and projects on environment sanitation.
Four (4) barangays received the Best Sanitation Award.
- Disease-Free Zone Awards
The award is given to recognize the efforts of health workers and the support of their local government units in achieving disease-free status for their provinces/areas. It is also a way of demonstrating that control and elimination of disease are possible and these provinces/areas serve as role models for other endemic areas. The award is given to malaria, filariasis and rabies endemic provinces/areas that achieved the criteria for elimination.
There were 32 awardees for this category.
- National Sandugo Awards
The National Sandugo Award honors the excellent performance of local chief executives in the implementation of the National Voluntary Blood Services Program in their respective localities.
There were 18 LGUs who were given the award.
- Good Practice Awards
The Good Practice Award or GPA is a biennial award conferred by the Project Implementation Officers (PIO), which is chaired by NEDA to Official Development Assistance/Foreign Assisted Projects. A Good Practice is one that resolves a recurring implementation issue or one that achieves a desired sector outcome.
DOH holds the distinction of the only agency recipient of GPA in 2014.
There were five (5) provinces given this award.
“We congratulate the local chief executives for being our champions in health. We would like to encourage other local government officials to make health a priority in their areas so that their constituents are healthy, productive members of the country,” Garin concluded.
