We believe that human dignity is related to health, which, in turn, is not possible without sanitation. By providing both health and sanitation facilities to host and impact communities that previously had no access to these basic services, we have had a positive impact on the well-being and economic productivity of these communities.
We have taken our commitment to Health & Sanitation a step further by setting up a clinic – manned full-time by a doctor, nurse and mid-wife – in Canatuan on a 24/7 basis. Before this clinic opened, ill-stricken residents of the remote mountain villages had to travel at least two hours through inhospitable terrain to get to the nearest hospital. Today, the reverse has happened. Many people from the Siocon town proper now go to Canatuan for medical checkups and treatments.
We have also partnered with the Philippine government and non-government organizations in a regional effort to eradicate lymphatic filariasis, a mosquito-borne parasitic disease endemic in the remote areas of Mindanao. Moreover, we routinely conduct medical missions to far-flung communities on the Zamboanga Peninsula, something previously unheard of in these areas.
