key: cord-0025560-862lt60m
authors: Alberto, Nicole Rose I.; Alberto, Isabelle Rose I.; Eala, Michelle Ann B.; Dee, Edward Christopher; Cañal, Johanna Patricia A.
title: Availability of essential diagnostics in the Philippines
date: 2022-01-06
journal: Lancet Reg Health West Pac
DOI: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2021.100375
sha: 9d1f08f896ecb06121ccf79f1b682931ca01331c
doc_id: 25560
cord_uid: 862lt60m

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access to essential diagnostics, especially for geographically isolated areas in the Philippine archipelago.

Improving national health financing is key to increasing diagnostic availability and accessibility. The prohibitive cost of diagnostics is a significant barrier to access, and consequently, to the diagnosis and treatment of the country's priority diseases. This financial handicap is compounded by limited and variable coverage from the national health insurance program, resulting in high out-of-pocket expenditure. The current health budget only accounts for 1.2% of the country's GDP, far less than the WHO-recommended 5%. 7 Inadequate procurement and operational budgets for diagnostics resulting from weak or absent governance mechanisms hint at the non-recognition of medical devices as essential. Moreover, financial incentives that encourage overdiagnosis and the lack of a national price monitoring mechanism continue to hinder the fair pricing of diagnostic tests and procedures. 8 To address this, Administrative Order 2021-0038 entitled "Framework for the Philippines Essential Medical Devices List and Price Reference Index" 9 was drafted to provide procurement guidance, price transparency, and price consolidation for essential medical devices in government health facilities. This is a substantial step forward as the first national framework on essential diagnostics in the Philippines. However, the paucity of relevant data regarding diagnostics in the Philippines will continue to deter the appropriation of funding and the creation of inclusive health policies catering to disadvantaged regions of the country. An accurate evaluation of diagnostic capacity will inform financing, infrastructure development, and policymaking to ensure the availability and affordability of essential diagnostics. 2 SEA is composed of several LMICs with similar limitations in diagnostic capacity. With a population of 655 million comprising almost 9% of the world's population, 10 the collective regional inadequacy in diagnostics is one of the most substantial contributors to global morbidity and mortality. International collaboration must be encouraged and incentivized to strengthen regional diagnostic capacity. Creation of global networks for health research and capacity-building would spur innovations to address unique and unmet needs in the Philippines, with implications that may benefit other nations in SEA and other LMICs.

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