COTABATO CITY (PIA) — The Ministry of Health (MOH) of the Bangsamoro government has recently introduced a regional version of the Philippine Package of Essential Noncommunicable Disease Interventions or PhilPEN.
The local program, known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Package of Essential Noncommunicable Disease Interventions (BARMMPEN), aims to address the increasing prevalence of noncommunicable diseases in the region, including high blood pressure, diabetes, and dyslipidemia, which refers to unhealthy cholesterol levels.
The MOH-BARMM was the first to establish a regional version of the PhilPEN.
According to the MOH, the BARMMPEN Information Health System was created to effectively track the information gathered from the treatment records of individuals aged 20 and older who underwent their PhilPEN risk assessment conducted by midwives at barangay health stations.
The data mentioned includes demographics, past and current medical histories, family medical histories, test results, and risk factors.
MOH Minister Dr. Kadil Sinolinding Jr. emphasized the importance of the health system in addressing the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases.
“The development of this is not an accident. The [system] is the product of our innovation as well as our pursuit of excellence, because we cannot excel in anything that we do if our data is unreliable,” he said.
Sinolinding also highlighted the importance of BARMMPEN in identifying individuals having risk factors linked to noncommunicable diseases.
“This information health system tries to synchronize and avoid all the duplication that we have had in the past,” he pointed out.
PhilPEN is a program initiated by the Department of Health to tackle the increasing issue of noncommunicable diseases.
The program emphasizes the early detection, prevention, and management of noncommunicable diseases, including hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. (With reports from MOH-BARMM)
