2025-11-30 –, Auditorium Language: English
Imagine being a 16-year-old in a remote barangay, needing health information or services but not knowing where to turn. Now imagine having a clear path to care that's designed specifically for you.
This map tells that story - it shows how Abra (one of the provinces in the Philippines) is bridging the gap between adolescent health needs and accessible care through strategic facility placement and educational integration.
Adolescents across the Philippines face unique health challenges that require specialized, judgment-free care, yet traditional healthcare systems often overlook these adolescent-specific needs. In remote and mountainous provinces like Abra, geography compounds these challenges, creating barriers that can seem insurmountable for young people seeking health services and information. However, this map reveals how geography can transform from barrier to solution through strategic planning and community-centered approaches. Through Adolescent Friendly Health Facilities (AFHFs), no adolescent will be left behind regardless of their location.
The distribution of Level 1 and Level 3 AFHFs tells a story of thoughtful healthcare hierarchy, with higher-level facilities strategically placed in population centers where they can serve as referral hubs for complex cases and can provide more services. These facilities form part of a network that ensures every adolescent can access appropriate care regardless of their needs. In addition, the road network shown here reveals accessibility of adolescents to the AFHFs and high schools.
the school-health integration visible throughout the map represents the ecosystem of adolescent support rather than treating health and education as separate silos. High schools serve as community health education hubs, reducing stigma by normalizing health conversations, help in generating demands for AFHFs, and creating peer support networks that extend far beyond the classroom. By showing both institutions together, this map demonstrates how AFHFs and schools form complementary partnerships where health education in schools creates informed adolescents who can better utilize AFHF services, while AFHFs provide the specialized clinical support that schools cannot offer.
Each dot on this map represents a lifeline— the use of geography to guide access to adolescent health care.
Data Management Officer and Epidemiologist with more than six years of experience in health data systems, statistical analysis, and applied research. Provides technical expertise to ensure the integrity of maternal & child health, and COVID-19 data, from collection to actionable insights. Specializes in data visualization and spatial analysis, leveraging tools like R/RStudio, QGIS, Stata, and RevMan to translate complex datasets into clear, decision-driven narratives. Recently completed the Precision Public Health Summer School at Taipei Medical University, further strengthening interdisciplinary approaches to public health. Actively affiliated with international public health and analytics organizations. Certified Data Analytics Associate and Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology.