A Leap Forward in a Single Day: Monthly ISSUP Philippines Updates
The previous month continues to be productive for the ISSUP Philippine Chapter and its host organization, the Philippine Addiction Specialists Society; we were fortunate to be invited to several events and projects that aim to improve the state of public health in the Philippines! November 30 especially was a day filled with achievements for the Chapter as we continue to collaborate with our peers. On that day alone, we became involved in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) ATI Project, joined the Sin Tax Coalition, and furthered the World Health Organization (WHO) and Department of Health's (DOH) efforts to merge Community-Based Mental Health (CBMH) with systems of care for Persons with SUD.
Representatives of the Chapter and UNODC met online to discuss the latter's ATI Project, an effort to introduce measures for Alternatives to Incarceration in the Philippines while strengthening the state's services to people with SUD. For the sake of the latter goal, the Chapter has been tapped as a key provider of training and expertise to capacitate service providers and the systems of care as a whole to accommodate the increase in its demand that will come with the introduction of ATI. The Chapter is uniquely positioned in this matter, as we are concurrently involved in projects that already improve the Philippines' systems of care (i.e. our efforts in revising the client flow system and the merging of systems of care with Community-Based Mental Health services).
During the Alcohol Regulation Campaign held by the Action for Economic Reforms in the same day, the Chapter joined the Sin Tax Coalition, an alliance of groups and organizations that worked to establish the Sin Tax Reform Act (which established additional tax on tobacco products, resulting in a significant decrease in smoking and an increase in funds for public health services). The Coalition now attempts to recreate its success with alcoholic products by initiating conversations about the heavy presence of alcohol in the society and culture of the Philippines. The Chapter will begin joining these conversations, working to help the public and legislators realize the damage of alcohol to the public, and to help decide the best course of action to reduce its consumption.
We also achieved another milestone in our project "Community-Based Mental Health and Harmonized Policy Agenda for Mental Health and Substance Use Integration." Representatives from the WHO, the DOH and other partner organizations collaborated in a workshop to condense data collected from expert stakeholders over several weeks, resulting in a Draft Implementing Policy. This draft will continue to be refined into Policy, Technical, and Final Reports to be then presented to legislators in the Philippine Government. As mentioned previously, this new policy seeks to integrate CBMH into existing systems of care for persons with SUD to provide more holistic treatment and rehabilitation better suited to Filipinos.
The Chapter also supported the DOH's cause during the National Bike to Work Day last November 29. This is a campaign of awareness on multiple issues - of the dangers of pollution and the reduction of emissions, of taking measures to improve one's physical health, and of building a sense of community that accommodates the needs all those within it. We helped the nation take a starting step forward in encouraging residents of cities across the nation to simply try commuting to their workplace or school by bike. This single step plants the idea in the minds of the people that one change in their lives can ripple out into the betterment of society.
