PHE Speaks on Health System Policy during National Health Research Forum for Action

The Program for Health Equity (PHE) was invited by the Department of Health Health Policy Development and Planning Bureau (DOH-HPDPB) to serve as a resource speaker during the 21st National Health Research Forum for Action (NHRFA) on September 21–24, 2026, at Azumi Boutique Hotel, Muntinlupa.

As the Department of Health’s biennial platform for research dissemination, networking, and policy translation, the NHFRA facilitated the 3rd Edition Philippine Health System in Transition (HiT) Policy Discussion, under the theme: “Evidence for Impact: Transforming Health Research for the 21st Century.”

The PHE Coordinator Leizel P. Lagrada, MD, MPH, PhD presents principal health reforms and an assessment of the health system pointing out that almost every statutory structure that universal health care requires is now in place.

During the policy discussion, the PHE served to support the ongoing systems strengthening efforts of the Department of Health by providing a different perspective on reading monitoring data, and recognition of access stratified by wealth and geography, of structural constraints to supply, of money appropriated but not spent and not allocated against need.