Health devolution and its impact on relocatees' access to health care services and social vulnerability.

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the service delivery system under the health devolution and its impact on the health care access of relocatees and their social vulnerability. More specifically, it aims to analyze how the devolved system integrates and accommodates the health care needs of the relocatees upon their transfer into the resettlement areas where there is already an established community of permanent residents or non-relocatees. Furthermore, the paper aims to identify the implications of the health service delivery system of the LGUs to the social vulnerability of relocatees to health problems. In this pursuit, the paper will look into different areas such as budget allocation, service delivery, accessibility and availability of health care resources, human resources, health status of relocatees, health care situation in the site of relocation and other related matters. The research will be a case-study that will include an analysis of how the barangay and municipal units’ responded to the increased demands for health services upon the relocation of the urban poor within the framework provided for by the devolution of health services, if there are any. The tools that will be used for data-gathering are interviews, more specifically, subject interviews, expert interviews, and key informant interviews.