Unilab Center for Health Policy launched to help bridge healthcare system gaps in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Unilab Foundation (ULF) launched the Unilab Center for Health Policy (UCHP), a venue for stakeholders to examine health policy issues.

“UCHP is intended to provide a platform for policy makers, the private sector, implementors and other concerned stakeholders—at the national and local levels—to discuss, distill and dissect health policy issues,” Unilab Foundation president Clinton Campos Hess said.

With a fragmented healthcare landscape, the Philippines grapples with obstacles on uplifting marginalized Filipinos. Out-of-pocket expenses, uneven distribution of human resources, and limited access are among the persistent challenges that the newly established UCHP aims to tackle.

Recognizing the monumental task of achieving universal health care, UCHP emphasizes a collective responsibility shared by the government and private sectors.

“UCHP does not presume that it can help solve all the issues at hand. It is a modest attempt to bring together like-minded individuals and institutions desirous of nourishing our nation’s health care system. It is premised on government and the private sector working together,” Campos Hess explained.

“UCHP seeks to spawn ideas anchored on research and grounded on experience. Such an approach will help forge the appropriate interventions to the exigent health concerns of access, equity, quality, service delivery, UHC implementation, and the interphase of health with technology,” he added.

UCHP has an Advisory Council, which will aid in crafting policy agendas and in ensuring the meticulous oversight of project implementation. It is chaired by former Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Enrique Ona and includes Philippine Medical Association president, Dr. Maria Minerva Calimag, former University of the Philippines School of Economics dean, Dr. Orville Jose Solon, former DOH Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega, and Ateneo De Manila School of Medicine and Public Health founding associate dean, Dr. Maria Eufemia Yap.

UCHP has identified four priority areas that will become the focus of its initial policy recommendations.

The first one revolves around the direction of the National Health Accounts from 1991 to 2022, wherein