Health Sector Development Project (ADB Loan 2137-PHI)

The objectives of the project was to work within the three identified provinces (Ilocos Norte, Ifugao, and Oriental Mindoro) to improve the health status of the population, especially of the poor, in line with the Health Sector Reform Agenda (HSRA) of the Philippines Department of Health (DOH), and to achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations. The project implemented an integrated set of health sector reforms that will benefit the poor including system-wide changes and the design and implementation of project interventions that build on the HSRA.

The project advocated, designed, initiated, and evaluated specific interventions in support of the HSRA at national level and in the selected provinces with the objective to translate agreed policy reform into changes in corporate cultures and in concrete improvements of health services, especially for the poor. The project improved the efficiency and effectiveness of delivery of health care to the poor by focusing on the investments and HSRA reforms needed to implement a number of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) critical to the health of the poor. Interventions supported the implementation of these CPGs in selected convergence sites, and in DOH, Philippines Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) and other agencies at the central and regional levels.