ZFF-DOH HLGP - Coordinator Sharing Experience

Health Leadership and Governance Program

Coordinator shares experience on how program enhances local health systems and improve outcomes

BEING THE coordinator of the Health Leadership and Governance Program (HLGP) is a tough job, but Mrs. Herodina Preston of the Department of Health (DOH) cannot imagine herself doing anything else.

“Just seeing the dedication of local chief executives in committing themselves to solving the health problems in their respective provinces and municipalities inspires me to do my best in my field,” said Preston, who is assigned as HLGP Coordinator of the DOH Regional Office XIII based in Butuan City, CARAGA.

The HLGP, a program originally initiated and successfully implemented by the Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) in its cohort municipalities, is a three-year program that aims to improve health outcomes through strengthened leadership and governance, enhanced local health systems, and increased community participation and health-seeking behavior.

The DOH, recognizing the need to intensify efforts to address health problems especially among the country’s poor, is in the process of institutionalizing the HLGP nationwide, according to Preston.

Preston, who has worked in the DOH for more than three decades, said that she has seen how the HLGP’s emphasis on the importance of leadership changed the way local chief executives (LCEs) and their health teams view health operations.

“It used to be so difficult to get the attention of LCEs, such as the governors and the mayors,” recalled Preston, whose work as the head of the DOH RO XIII governance cluster led to her present assignment as HLGP coordinator.

She pointed out that other priorities in their respective municipalities and provinces explain the local leaders’ initial lack of interest, which all changed when they participated in the HLGP.

Bigger picture

“Now they know how to look at the bigger picture in solving health problems, recognizing that using gunshot interventions is unsustainable,” Preston said.

An example of this gunshot intervention is how local leaders used to deal with maternal deaths. When a mother died from childbirth, a mayor’s usual reaction would be to give the family money for the coffin and other funeral expenses.

“The issue of maternal mortality cannot be solved this way, and maternal deaths will only recur until you get to the root of the problem,” Preston emphasized.

The HLGP identifies leadership as the key to changing health systems and innovating programs that lead to better health outcomes. By developing the leadership and governance capabilities of LCEs, as well as the leadership skills of local health officers and community health workers, the HLGP aims to create an immediate impact on achieving the health Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) through the improvement of local health systems in 609 priority municipalities all over the country.

LCEs who have undergone either the Provincial Leadership Governance Program or PLGP (for governors) or the Municipal Leadership Governance Program or MLGP (for mayors) now look at the problem of maternal mortality in a different way, Preston said.

Analyzing health problems

The LCEs now analyze the health problem using the frameworks and concepts they learned from the HLGP programs they attended.

“After identifying the possible reasons for the maternal death—be it the lack of available transportation to bring the pregnant mother to the hospital, the absence of a midwife who could help her, or inability to access medicines—the local leaders would then formulate the corresponding strategies in coordination with their stakeholders,” Preston said.

She added: “Here we see the importance of the leaders’ commitment and ownership of the health problems in their municipalities and provinces.”

DOH Files November 2014

ROJ@15mar20