Philippines

Health

We work to strengthen essential health facilities and prepare the health system for future disasters by restocking medicine, supplies and equipment, and training doctors and nurses working in rural health units about disaster-response medicine. For example, our teams have:

• provided cold-chain support, staff and transportation for several immunization campaigns, including measles and encephalitis campaigns in Benguet province;
• extended logistical support to the Laguna Provincial Hospital-Nagcarlan District Hospital during the 2019 dengue epidemic; and
• provided logistical support to the polio immunization campaign in Manila.

As part of our COVID-19 response, our teams trained more than 400 health workers and community volunteers on infection prevention and control.

Disaster Preparedness and Response

International Medical Corps works with local departments of health to support typhoon-affected populations. For example, our teams have:

• provided diesel generators or solar power to health facilities to ensure proper cold chain and continuity of health services, even during power outages;
• trained staff on disaster risk reduction and the incident command system;
• offered training-of-trainers schooling to health staff about basic life support;
• trained volunteers about basic life support and first aid; and
• trained health workers about advanced cardiac life support.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

WASH services are among the most urgently needed interventions after typhoons and earthquakes, which cause large-scale infrastructure damage, threaten the health of vulnerable communities and particularly put children at risk for contracting communicable diseases. In response, we focus on ensuring water supply and hygiene in at-risk schools. For example, our teams have:

• rehabilitated WASH systems at 95 schools;
• provided hygiene training to 130 schools;
• trained more than 1,000 teachers on proper hygiene practices;
• trained hundreds of students and teachers to act as hygiene champions and train others; and
• distributed thousands of hygiene kits.

Since 2018, our teams have responded to several natural disasters, providing water-survival and hygiene kits to hundreds of households throughout the country. We rehabilitate toilets in evacuation centers, and construct laundry facilities where needed.

In response to COVID-19, we installed handwashing facilities in health centers throughout Manila and Cavite, and distributed WASH materials—disinfectant, detergent, washcloths, mops, buckets, coveralls, goggles and multipurpose gloves—to people in those health centers.