Diabetes management project wins the 3-Minute Pitch to Policymakers Competition
A hardworking researcher from Southern Philippines bagged the top plum in the recently concluded 3-Minute Pitch to Policymakers Competition held on 14 August2020, for her entry on diabetes management.
Ms. Geraldine S. Ridad of the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, representing Region 10, won the competition for her research study entitled, “Project DiabEHT: An Approach to Improve Self-care Management of Diabetes”.
Among the 11 competitors from different regional health R&D consortia across the country that presented online, Region 10 was hailed as the winner. Region 10 maintains the title since its launch in 2019.
The competition which highlights the importance of translating research findings into policy was conducted by the Department of Science and Technology–Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD). The initiative was also conducted to encourage researchers to submit their works on finding solutions to pressing health problems in the country, one of which is diabetes.
According to the Western Pacific Region of the International Diabetes Federation, an umbrella organization of over 230 national diabetes associations in 170 countries and territories, the Philippines ranks fifth behind China, Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand in the number of diabetes cases
With a population of 100 million, the Philippines has more than five million diagnosed cases of diabetes and the rate of increase is becoming alarming.
With this in mind, Ms. Ridad's research aims to increase a diabetic patient’s confidence in managing his/her diabetes. It has three components, namely: (1) weekly support group activities and lecture series on diabetes, (2) installation and use of the DiabEHT mobile app, and (3) installation of "diabooth" in a health center.
After six weeks of project implementation, the participants have shown significant improvement in their self-care activities in terms of general diet, physical activities, blood glucose monitoring, and foot-care. Their blood glucose levels were also significantly reduced, which means that the project has a significant improvement in the participants’ glycemic control.
Ms. Ridad is now reaching out tothe Department of Health (DOH) to help her conduct a comparative study to better determine the effectiveness of the mobile application in attaining desired outcomes for patients with diabetes.
Other winners included the following: Dr. Hazel Anne L. Catublas from the National Capital Region (NCR) in second place, with her research study entitled "Bridging the Gap for the Improvement of Access to Healthcare of the Filipino Deaf Community", while Mr. Michael G. Bacus from Region XI was awarded third place with his research study entitled "Healthy Nature for Healthy People".
Dr. Ronneldela Rosa from Region III won the People’s Choice Award after garnering 28.4% of online votes during the event. His policy pitch was entitled "Smoke-Free City Living and Tobacco-Free Generation in the City of Balanga".
To view the awarding ceremony, you may follow the link below for the replay of the Video Competition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4iXj9_Eq-0.
For more information on the programs and projects of DOST Region X, kindly contact Ms. Julie Anne H. Baculio, Science Research Specialist I, (stpromotions@region10.dost.gov.ph, 0917-709-3706).
