Health professionals affiliated with the Central Visayas Consortium for Health Research and Development (CVCHRD) gathered for a two-day workshop to update their skills and knowledge on geriatric research. /Contributed Photos
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Heath practitioners gave aging prime attention by building up their capacity in geriatric research.
Affiliates and individual members of the Central Visayas Consortium for Health Research and Development (CVCHRD) gathered for a two-day workshop last May 29 and 30, 2019 with speakers from the National Institute of Health (NIH), who gave interactive presentations at the Elena O. Diola Memorial Hall of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) regional office in Cebu City.
The University of the Philippines (UP) Manila established the NIH when its Board of Regents stamped its approval during its 1094th meeting on January 26, 1996 for the creation of the Gerontology and Disabilities Programs Cluster.
As physicians, academicians and allied medical professionals within the UP system pioneered NIH Committee on Aging and Degenerative Diseases (COMADD), the UP Board further established the Institute on Aging (IA) on December 4, 2012.
IA pioneers, like current director Shelley de la Vega, MD, MSc; Prof. Maria Stella Giron, MD PhD; and research associate Angely Garcia, RN were among those who shared the outcome of their researches during the CVCHRD workshop.
They promoted the need for the Filipino elderly to have healthy body, mind and spirit; be treated with dignity; and valued as a productive member of society in a dynamic process unique to every senior citizen.
De la Vega discussed the topic “Healthy Aging: Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment” while Garcia’s talk was focused on the “Status of Geriatric Research in the Philippines.”
Marciana R. Mariñas, RL, MSLIS, Science and Technology Librarian at the University of San Carlos (USC), who led the USC delegation spoke of their mission to create for aging Filipinos unlimited possibilities for their value-added life through research, service and education.
On the first day of the gathering, Minerva Vinluan, MD, MSc, of the Department of Health (DOH) Disease Prevention and Control Bureau explained the “DOH Policy on Healthy Aging” as CVCHRD research ethics committee chair Dr. Manuel Emerson S. Donaldo tackled the “Ethics of Research on Older Persons in the Philippines.”
The next day, NIH IA project research assistant Hannah Pellejo, PTRP, tackled “Project Data Management and Operations” while UP NIH Institute of Clinical Epidemiology research assistant professors presented more substantial topics.
Mary Ann J. Ladia, PhD, introduced the “Qualitative Methods in the Study of the Aging Population,” with Olivia T. Sison, MSPH, on “Statistics on Health Research.” /dcb