THREE municipalities in Panay Island are selected as the target sites of the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Philippines youth program in partnership with the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP), Department of Health regional office and the local government units of Ivisan and Maayon, Capiz and Sara, Iloilo.
A memorandum of agreement is being drafted for the concerned parties to implement a project “Increasing Youth Participation in Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (ASRHR) Programming in TS Haiyan Response in Region VI with funding assistance of P5.5 million from the UNICEF.
One of the project components are medical missions to be conducted twice a month in depressed barangays of each pilot town until December 2015.
Mona Diones, FPOP chapter program manager, said the joint program is the pilot activity in Western Visayas aimed to develop model communities highly approved by Mayor Felipe Neri Yap of Ivisan, Capiz, Mayor Wilfredo Borres Sr of Maayon, Capiz and Mayor Neptali Salcedo of Sara, Iloilo together with their respective municipal health and social welfare officers.
Diones said the convergence of multi-sector efforts toward improvement of health services is based on Republic Act No. 10354 or “The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012.”
FPOP is a non government organization engaged in the promotion of quality of life by providing reproductive health services and information among the poor and marginalized population across the country.
FPOP, as a lead implementing NGO of youth friendly services in the country, aims to provide information and education to the youth especially the adolescents with ages 10 to 19 years old through creating connections training and Usap Tayo sessions. The program also includes provision of adequate and reliable health services during the medical missions.