Bitter healthcare: assessment of the national diabetes prevention and control policy

Abstract

Diabetes is one of the noncommunicable diseases which continue to affect millions of Filipinos. Being undiagnosed and unmanaged will bring numerous and dangerous complications that affect overall health. The Philippine government acknowledged the growing threat of Diabetes by enacting the National Diabetes Act of 1996 creating the National Diabetes Prevention and Control Program that will address and control the Diabetes epidemic in the Philippines. This study aims to assess how the Diabetes is addressed here in the Philippines by looking at a micro health system of a city government health program that tackles Diabetes and how national policies affect down to such local communities. The factors that affect the delivery and access of the local health program which can be a reflection of how such disease like Diabetes is handled and the national situation of healthcare in the Philippines.