Mental Health Guidebook
Hello, UP Mindanao constituents!
The Office of Student Affairs has created a Mental Health Guidebook for everyone. Please browse through it by clicking on the link below!
Mental Health Guidebook OSA - online pages
Latest Announcements
Bridging the Health Gaps in Mindanao, Part 2
Madayaw!
UP Mindanao will hold a forum on BRIDGING THE HEALTHCARE GAPS IN MINDANAO THRU MEDICAL EDUCATION on 16 December 2020 @ 1:30 pm via Zoom. This is an offshoot of the forum that we conducted last 14 October 2020. That forum was about the healthcare gaps and needs in Mindanao and it was participated by the healthcare workers of Region XI and Region XII. It was highlighted during the forum that despite the advances in medicine and public health and the medical interventions done by the regional offices of DOH, glaring inequalities in access to health care and health outcomes persist in Mindanao. It also highlighted that a significant number of Filipinos die without seeing a doctor, and the Philippines has a shortage of trained doctors. Furthermore, doctors in the Philippines are distributed unevenly (more practicing medical doctors in urban centers than in rural communities) and emigration is high. It also highlighted the need for more healthcare workers that are differentiated and equipped to address the specific health needs of the population and the medical graduates we produce are crucial as health human resources in achieving UHC (Universal Health Care). Aside from the important role of medical schools in advancing medicine by providing competencies to medical doctors in terms of diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment, the importance to develop “the heart of the medical Doctors” to serve and work for the community also surfaced. The crucial role of medical education to address these gaps were also recognized.
In the upcoming forum, we invited the deans of UP Manila CM, Ateneo de Manila CM, UP Manila SHS, and MSU-IIT CM (CM with distinct curricula) to share the following:
1. the general direction of their medical curriculum/programs and how it addresses the gaps between the competencies of health professionals and the health needs of the Filipino population;
2. the distinct characteristics of their medical curriculum/programs that address the issue of the dispersion of doctors, the shortage of doctors in remote areas, and the access of rural communities to the health care system.
3. their insights about the present situation and future direction of medical education in The Philippines.
We wish to invite you to this forum and share with us during the Q and A interaction your opinion on whether the existing medical curricula had addressed the medical issues in the primary and community health care system. Your participation will help us identify medical issues in the community that are not addressed yet by the existing medical curricula and has to be addressed by the proposed UP Mindanao college of medicine. With these, we will be guided on how the curriculum of the planned UPMin College of Medicine will contribute to the strengthening of the primary and community health care system and makes the tertiary hospitals the last line of health defense.
Should you have any questions regarding the Zoom forum, please email me at or through 09177051258. We are looking forward to your confirmation in this forum. Your presence in the forum will be much appreciated. Please find the link below for registration. It also serves as the zoom invitation link to the forum. Thank you.
https://up-edu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BjfMGpOtTsS6j7Pj2oXDig
Sincerely,
Nilo Oponda, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Building Mindanao’s public health with UP Mindanao’s NICER Center
The University of the Philippines (UP) Mindanao will soon build a center for a decision-support system for public health focusing on Southern Philippines. A first in Mindanao, the center will gather information on infectious diseases and use advanced scientific approaches to better understand public health risks.
Data analytics, mathematical modeling, genomics research, and quantitative risk analysis will be used to analyze and gather evidence to support proposed policies. The focus will be on more accurate disease prediction, improve the recovery prospects of infected individuals, and evaluate risk in communities through animal and water studies. Local practices and attitudes will also be given equal consideration in making recommendations. The center will adopt the OneHealth model that encourages multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals, and the environment. The maps and data products will be made available to the public and other sectors to help create policies and decisions related to disease prevention and public health. The center’s activities will be undertaken in partnership with the public sector and civil society organizations.
This promising UP Mindanao-proposed center is close to reality after being approved by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). Program leader Dr. May Anne Mata of UP Mindanao reported that DOST Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara conveyed the DOST Executive Committee decision through an approval letter dated 08 October 2020. “UP Mindanao’s proposal is being considered for funding under the DOST’s Niche Centers in the Regions (NICER) program,” Dr. Mata stated. “We have renamed our NICER program as ‘Center for Applied Modeling, Data Analytics, and Bioinformatics for Decision-Support Systems in Health,' or AMDABiDSS-Health,” she stated.
The NICER center is a part of the Mindanao Health Initiatives of UP Mindanao, which includes a proposed College of Medicine and a city hospital to be undertaken in partnership with the Davao City Government.
The initial projects of the Center for Applied Modeling, Data Analytics, and Bioinformatics for Decision-Support Systems in Health are:
1. Predictive Modeling and Viral Phylodynamic Analysis on the Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Disease Outbreaks with considerations for Control and Logistics applied in Mindanao region. Project Leader: May Anne E. Mata, PhD, UP Mindanao
2. Risk Management and Enhanced Survival Analysis Integrated through Longitudinal Infectious Disease Data and Statistical Epidemiological Model using Clinical Risk Factors. Project Leader Dr. Gernelyn T. Logrosa, PhD, Malayan Colleges Mindanao
3. Vulnerability Assessment Tool: A Decision Support System for Pre-Emptive Preparedness on Emerging Infections Among Animal Reservoir in Urban Green Spaces. Project Leader: Von Carlo P. Dela Torre, MSc., UP Mindanao
4. Integrated Wastewater-Based Epidemiology and Data Analytics for Community-Level Pathogen Surveillance and Genetic Tracking. Project Leader: Lyre Anni Espada-Murao, PhD, UP Mindanao/PGC Mindanao.
Updated: “HEIs Making a Difference thru Volunteerism: Ang Kwento ng Pahinungód” The 2020 National Volunteer Month Kick-Off
[POST-EVENT UPDATE]
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December has been designated as a National Volunteer Month (NVM) through Proclamation #55 series of 1998. This year, the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA) offered the opening ceremony for National Volunteer Month to the UP Ugnayan ng Pahinungod, the public service program of the University of the Philippines.
UP President Danilo Concepcion, in his welcome remarks, thanked the PNVSCA for offering UP the opportunity to open the NVM. He said that in reviving the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod in 2019 he wanted to give renewed energy for volunteerism in the national university. In unifying once more the Pahinungod into the UP System, his goal was to further strengthen and intensify the volunteerism activities in a better and more effective way. He noted the timeliness of reviving the Pahinungod in 2019 as the nation soon experienced calamities that allowed UP to respond.
Former UP President Emil Javier, in his keynote message, expressed his deep personal gratitude to President Concepcion and collective appreciation of the UP community for breathing new life into Pahinungod, most importantly for providing more resources to the program. “So before you leave, Mr. President, I would like to thank you personally with Attorney Gaby by your side,” he said.
Dr. Javier recounted the highlights in the creation of the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod. He closed his talk with two anecdotes touching on UP Mindanao. “My favorite story is of the three lady volunteers of UP Visayas who went to the hinterlands of Compostela Valley [now Davao de Oro] to put up a high school at the request of the municipal council. Now I understand that the high school which these three young ladies worked on has become a regular high school. And my favorite story is about the UP Mindanao Pahinungod delegation who came to join the UP Diliman Lantern Parade.”
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Former Kidawa National High School principal Dr. Norman Jandog, in his testimony, said, “The Pahinungod brought the longed-for dream of our community for secondary education. We had six full years of partnership with Pahinungod [in 1998 to 2004], and I met 56 Gurong Pahinungod volunteers.” Thirteen years after helping build the Kidawa school, Mr. Michael Gatela, a former Gurong Pahinungod volunteer, was named officer-in-charge, and later, director, of the revived UP Mindanao Ugnayan ng Pahinungod in June 2019. He immediately embarked on promoting the volunteer service program to the incoming first-year students of UP Mindanao. In the “Tagbo” student leadership camp in July 2019, six students signed up to be service volunteers.
Director Gatela organized affirmative action tutorials for public high school students from remote Barangay Marilog, Davao City. UP Mindanao alumni served as volunteer tutors. Next, he organized an action research seminar for public high school teachers of Veruela, Agusan del Sur, a UP Land Reservation site. UP Cebu’s Prof. Aurelio Vilbar served as the resource person.
When the Mindanao earthquakes occurred in October 2019, the UP Mindanao Pahinungod was called upon to focus its efforts on disaster risk reduction. It coordinated and facilitated the UP response in the delivery of geological, psycho-social, shelter, and relief services to Cotabato province. The UP Mindanao Pahinungod gave a psycho-social intervention seminar to guidance counselors of Davao City schools and capped the year with a gift-giving and Christmas party for children in a Cotabato evacuation center.
Back in the education domain, in August 2020, the UP Mindanao Pahinungód, together with other UP Mindanao units, facilitated the admission to UP Mindanao of five graduates from public high schools in Laak, Davao de Oro, through the Iskolar ng Bayan Act.
When the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the shift to remote learning, the UP Mindanao Pahinungod assisted the UP Kaagapay sa Pag-aaral program in providing 33 UP Mindanao students and other UP students based in Mindanao with electronic gadgets and internet connectivity from July 2020 onward.
For teachers from Mindanao and Cebu, the UP Mindanao Pahinungod co-organized the webinar, “Assessment with Action Research in Remote/Online Learning Context," on 25 November 2020. Prof. Aurelio Vilbar once again served as the lead resource person who demonstrated a “pandemic pedagogy.” The webinar, available for viewing at https://bit.ly/33ikYBU, has since earned 565 views.
On 05 December 2020, the UP Mindanao Pahinungod delivered a community disaster risk-reduction service through a Psychological First-Aid Webinar, co-organized with the Ugnayan ng Pahinungód Committee on Psychosocial Emergency Services (UP CoPES). Though intended for volunteers from the UP Mindanao community, it also attracted persons from another university, eventually ending with 12 new volunteers, including a medical doctor, an anthropologist, and university peer-counselors.
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Pahinungod Director Dr. Grace Aguiling-Dalisay, in her talk, gave a two-year report covering the period since the new beginning of the Pahinungod and the upcoming programs. Next, a number of Gurong Pahinungod volunteers, community partners in the person of Municipal Mayor Fernando Mesa, and Principal Norman Jandog gave individual testimonies.
Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency Executive Director Donald James Gawe gave remarks and enumerated the upcoming NVM activities.
UP Mindanao Pahinungod Director Michael Gatela gave the closing remarks, acknowledging everybody, and closed by encouraging everyone to be engaged: ”Makibahagi at maglingkod! ...Ituloy ang kwento ng pahinungod! Ipagpatuloy ang kwento ng boluntarismo!”
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Read an invitation from the UP Ugnayan ng Pahinungod Office below:
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CELEBRATE NATIONAL VOLUNTEER MONTH WITH US!
On December 1 (Tuesday). at 9 A.M., listen to the stories of Pahinungod volunteers and community partners throughout the years and learn how volunteerism in higher education institutions contributes to making a difference to the nation.
This webinar is brought to you by the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod, UP's volunteer service program., in partnership with the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency and the DLS-CSB School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies.
Joining us are two very special guests, UP President Danilo L. Concepcion, who paved the way for Pahinungod's revitalization, and former UP President Emil Q. Javier, Founder of the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod.
Register now to join the webinar via Zoom at https://bit.ly/PahinungodxNVM2020
If you cannot access Zoom, register here https://bit.ly/33aqKW4
Tune in to our YouTube channel to catch the live stream: https://bit.ly/KwentoNgPahinungodYoutube
Follow our Facebook page for the live stream and for more updates: https://web.facebook.com/UgnayanNgPahinungodSystem
NRCP Biological Sciences webinar, 30 November 2020
[UPDATE, 30 November 2020]
Faculty members Cyrose Millado (Dept. of Bio. Sci. and Environ. Studies) and Kriza Calumba (Dept. of Food Sci. and Chem.) are inducted as members of the National Research Council of the Philippines in the Biological Sciences Division virtual meeting on 30 November 2020.
In the Scientific Webinar, Assoc. Prof. Lyre Anni Murao gave a talk, "Covert Battles: Are Wildlife Viruses Really Wild?" She said that about sixty percent of the emerging infectious diseases that are known so far are zoonotic in nature and that majority of these originated from wildlife. "The transmission of pathogens from animals to humans occurs in a multi-stage process. Nevertheless, less than .1% of the known animal pathogens can cross the species barrier and infect humans. There is a covert battle going on between the pathogen and the host and the outcome is determined by the barriers versus the driving forces that may favor transmission," she said.
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The National Research Council of the Philippines Biological Sciences Division (Division V) will be having its first virtual meeting of the year on 30 November 2020, from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon.
Part 1, the Scientific Webinar will feature talks by experts. Associate Professor Lyre Anni Murao of UP Mindanao, also the program director of Philippine Genome Center Mindanao, will deliver a talk on, "COVert BATtles: Are Wildlife Viruses Really Wild?" Associate Professor Rina Opulencia of the UP Los Baños Institute of Biological Sciences will speak on "Microbial Flora of the Philippine Native Swine in Quezon Province." Finally, Dr. Marian De Leon, UP Los Baños University Researcher and Curator of the Museum of Natural History will talk on "Microbes in Philippine Caves: A Continuous Research Investigation and Assessment."
Part 2 will be the Oath Taking of New Associate Members, and Part 3 will be the Business Meeting.
Slots are limited and priority will be given to Division V members but interested persons are welcome to attend. Register at https://bit.ly/3700PkX.