by Franklin P. Gumapon
DIPOLOG CITY, Feb. 3 (PIA) – Two universities in Zamboanga City will receive funding assistance for their researches on health issues confronting the city.
The Zamboanga Consortium for Health Research and Development (ZCHRD) through the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in collaboration with Pfizer Philippines is going to fund health research proposals of the College of Nursing of Ateneo de Zamboanga University (ADZU) and the College of Communications and Humanities (CCH) of the Western Mindanao State University (WMSU).
ADZU’s study, which is titled “Documentation of the Prenatal Practices of the Subanen, Badjao and Tausug in Zamboanga City: Basis for Enhanced Health Care Services,” hopes to develop a framework to improve the prenatal care services of the indigenous peoples (IPs).
WMSU’s study, on the other hand, seeks to find out “the prevalence of mothers who exclusively breast feed their infants” vis-à-vis their knowledge, attitudes and practices, a press release of DOST-IX said. Its research is titled “School-Based Nutrition Health Program in Public Elementary School in Zamboanga City.”
Funding for these studies is said to come from Pfizer’s through its “Providing an Enabling Environment for Research in Health (PEER Health) program, an exclusive research grant given to researchers in Zamboanga Peninsula and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) through the tripartite partnership of PCHRD-DOST, University of the Philippines –Manila, National Institutes of Health (UPM-NIH) and Pfizer Philippines Foundation.
DOST-IX said: “PEER Health research grant program promotes the value of health research by supporting local researches that respond to current and relevant health concerns in the Philippines. Through this program, interested young researchers will be provided funding support training and mentoring on research protocol development, project implementation, good clinical practice, research ethics, data analysis and publication of results in a scientific journal.” (FPG/PIA-Zamboanga del Norte)