Health and wealth go - PIDS

For the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS), health and wealth go together — that is, improvement in the economy should also redound to a more healthy Filipinos. PIDS noted that despite a significant growth of the economy, however, the country’s overall health indicators have not commensurately improved with that growth. The fact may seem like an unwelcome indicator but PIDS sees it as an opportunity to make health a shared wealth and an inclusive one at that. Inclusive health means equity in health status, financing, and services to all segments of the population, including the fact that there is equality in access to health services; improvement in mortality ratio especially among disadvantages households; high investments in health facilities, services, and manpower; and adequate social health insurance programs for better health benefits. How to address this issue and make the health sector more inclusive as the economy grows is the focus of this year’s Development Policy Research Month (DPRM) observance as reflected by its theme "Making Health More Inclusive in a Growing Economy”. In a press statement, PIDS President Dr. Gilberto M. Llanto said that we need to address the urgent need of narrowing the gap between the richest and the poorest Filipino households in terms of health status.