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The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated and surfaced long-standing inadequacies in the country's health and social systems. In response to the Philippine government's inefficient and ineffective COVID-19 response and their dismissal of the calls for accountability, Filipinos at the barangay level organized community pantries to respond to the needs of the community. Using WHO's Framework for Community Health Engagement, this study positions community pantries as a unique health phenomenon during the COVID-19 pandemic within the Philippine context. This study explores the ways that the Maginhawa Community Pantry—the critical case study—addresses both emergent and pre-existing health needs among Filipinos during the COVID-19 pandemic. By examining community pantries from the perspective of the Maginhawa Community Pantry organizer, this paper elucidates how community pantries engage in diverse initiatives that: (1) mobilize the community for health, (2) improve access to healthcare, (3) ensure community collaboration and (4) call for collective action for systemic issues. The findings of this paper highlight the capacity and potential of community pantries as a health response beyond the COVID-19 pandemic and address gaps in the Philippine healthcare system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding people's concepts of illness and health is key to crafting policies and communications campaigns to address a particular medical concern. This paper gathers cultural knowledge on infectious disease causation, prevention, and treatment the Philippines that are particularly relevant for the COVID-19 pandemic, and analyzes their implications for public health. This paper draws from ethnographic work (e.g. participant observation, interviews, conversations, virtual ethnography) carried out individually by each of the two authors from February to September 2020. The data was analyzed in relation to the anthropological literature on local health knowledge in the Philippines. We find that notions of hawa (contagion) and resistensiya (immunity) inform people's views of illness causation as well as their preventive practices - including the use of face masks and 'vitamins' and other pharmaceuticals, as well as the ways in which they negotiate prescriptions of face mask use and physical distancing. These perceptions and practices go beyond biomedical knowledge and are continuously being shaped by people's everyday experiences and circulations of knowledge in traditional and social media. Our study reveals that people's novel practices reflect recurrent, familiar, and long-held concepts - such as the moral undertones of hawa and experimentation inherent in resistensiya. Policies and communications efforts should acknowledge and anticipate how these notions may serve as either barriers or facilitators to participatory care and improved health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper analyzed the healthcare systems of the Philippines and Vietnam prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and their strategies on mass testing, contact tracing, quarantine procedures and information dissemination about the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: Steinmo's (2008) historical institutionalism approach was used in this paper. Secondary data gathering, document analysis and comparative process tracing were employed. Findings: The findings revealed that Vietnam's implementation of its Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases in 2007, its relatively low-cost healthcare system, its efficient mass testing and contact tracing strategies and its science-based decisions are contributory to its success in handling the pandemic. Meanwhile, the Philippines failure to enact its Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act in 2013, its costly and dominantly private healthcare system, its heavy focus on strict, long lockdowns and its militarist methods to control the spread of the pandemic were found to be insufficient. Research limitations/implications: Detailed study on the delivery of healthcare services in marginal areas, healthcare spending for COVID-19 positive individuals and information dissemination strategies about the pandemic were not explored. Practical implications: Health institutions can redesign their governance mechanisms by ensuring a cost-effective healthcare system and maximizing resource utilization to ensure efficient management of future pandemics. Moreover, national governments should not compromise their country's healthcare system over the economy during a pandemic. Originality/value: This paper analyzed the countries' history of healthcare governance and its influence in handling COVID-19 compared to previous studies which only focused on the countries' strategies during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

aim Gozum,1 Harvey Gain Capulong,1 Jose Ma Gopez,1 Joseph Renus Galang2,31Center for Christian Formation and Praxis, Angeles University Foundation, Angeles City, 2009, Philippines; 2Graduate School, Angeles University Foundation, Angeles City, 2009, Philippines; 3Theology and Religious Education Department, De La Salle University, Manila, 0922, PhilippinesCorrespondence: Ivan Efreaim Gozum Email [email protected] Background: This research investigates different approaches by cultural, religious and political groups in ensuring public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, several methods were done by governments and healthcare institutions to mitigate the spread of the virus. Methods: This study uses content analysis, specifically a literature review, on existing online literature found in online journals, books, and reports relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper presents the available qualitative data including substantive findings as well as theoretical and methodological foundations relevant to the topic. Results: Culture, religion and the state have roles to play in ensuring public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. These three areas can help in mitigating the transmission of the virus, managing patients, and aiding the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Conclusion: This paper ends by suggesting that, in ensuring public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, a multidisciplinary approach, involving a concerted effort among culture, religion and the state, is necessary. This approach is also recommended for any public health crisis in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that public addresses of heads of state are critical for public health policy during pandemics. Drawing insights from studies that investigate metaphors and frames in political and public health discourses, it explores how the Philippine government, especially President Rodrigo Duterte, framed COVID-19. In doing so, it hopes to broaden the understanding of how political rhetoric may be constitutive of public health policy. The analysis of the public addresses entailed three interrelated levels: (1) a description of broad historical, social, political, and cultural contexts of public addresses under investigation, (2) an explanation of the communicative situation including the production and consumption of these addresses—processes that mediate between the text and context, and (3) a textual analysis, which substantiates how the discursive patterns are realized through the president's rhetorical choices. Our analysis reveals that the president consistently deployed the rhetorical strategies of (1) enemization, (2) legitimization of the incumbent administration, and (3) dismissal of critics. The configuration of these strategies sustains a binaristic discourse structure that lays blame on a political other while the government asserts its legitimacy during a public health crisis. These rhetorical strategies organize support for public health policy by a populist administration to manage COVID-19. Implications of political rhetoric to public health and risk communication are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the heightened effects of the pandemic, health resources have been in constant limbo as supplies and availability of hospital resources take a toll as COVID-19 cases surge, resulting in shortages. Thus, health systems are overwhelmed, resulting in a higher fatality rate since the capacity to provide medical attention is diminished. In this paper, hospital resources refer to mechanical ventilators, ICU, isolation, and ward beds which are the critical factors of the case fatality rate (CFR) of COVID-19 in the Philippines. Data were retrieved from the Department of Health (DOH) Case Bulletins from October 26, 2020, to June 30, 2021, with 248 total observations. This research used the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Multiple Regression to determine if hospital resources are the predictors of the case fatality rate of COVID-19. Furthermore, the results show a significant relationship between the hospital resources and the case fatality rate of COVID-19 in the Philippines. This study can become a framework for further research concerned about hospital resources as the predictors of case fatality rates of different diseases in a pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many of the academic papers that discussed the COVID-19 pandemic sought to present a reasonable analysis of the crisis and its underlying implications in government policies (for social and environmental reformations) and individual actions either in the present context or future. This paper attempted to contextualize the COVID-19 crisis through the lens of the Darwinian struggle for life and the philosophical notion of suffering while stressing the importance of defects admission. Generally, the author argues that these concepts are the primary roots of other dimensions of COVID-19-related studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent correspondence, authors discussed the role of private companies in fulfilling their corporate social responsibility (CSR) by coming up with their own vaccination program for their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper supports the invitation for companies to act in accordance with their CSR and by emphasizing the various roles of companies just like what selected hotels do as isolation and quarantine facilities during the pandemic. However, certain considerations and issues must also be addressed by hotel sectors in accomplishing their CSR especially in time of public health crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent correspondence suggested that taking home ashes and launching digital Lenten ashes filters are non-traditional yet creative ways for the Catholic Church to perform the ritual practice in celebrating Ash Wednesday. These creative practices are deemed as necessary so that the Catholic community can celebrate the liturgical celebration while ensuring public health. With this, we propose in this paper practices that can be done during the holy week so that the spread of the coronavirus will be mitigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent correspondence discussed that in trying times, technology can help be applied toward epidemiology to benefit communities by building a basic surveillance system. This suggested development in Honduras can be utilized in the Philippines to improve the State's handling of health emergencies. With this, this paper accentuates the importance of prevention and planning to ensure public health in the Philippines, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent correspondence, the authors suggested that secondary schools must adhere to health protocols and national and international guidelines so that the delivery of face-to-face classes will not risk students' and educators' health. With this, this paper proposes that even in higher education, a well-planned execution of face-to-face classes must be done. Thus, the gradual reopening of face-to-face classes becomes a necessity in order to gain a sense of normalcy in the middle of a pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schooling is one of the most affected aspects of human life due to coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In a recent correspondence published, the authors reminded every country of their responsibility to come up with strategies to reopen schools safely. This paper reiterates the adherence of school health protocols as significant in the delivery of face-to-face classes following national and international guidelines in mitigating the effects of COVID-19 pandemic as a public health crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent correspondence shows that death and burial practices deem significant in understanding the meaning and acceptance of the untimely and unexpected death of a family member afflicted with the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease. These, in turn, raise the need to address the anticipatory grieving process of the family. This paper examines the importance of anticipatory grieving that ultimately affects the lives of the family of the bereaved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]