Brief History
The Regional Health Research and Development Committee VI (RHRDC VI) was established last 1989 with the aim to link together researchers and institutions to facilitate health research activities attuned to regional health needs. The RHRDC VI was expected to assist the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) in establishing mechanisms to strengthen health research capabilities, encourage resource sharing between institutions, and promote the dissemination and utilization of health research results in the region.
Last November 2010, the RHRDC VI members, under the Chairmanship of Dr. Jaime M. Manila of West Visayas State University, agreed to establish a health research consortium and shall be known as Western Visayas Health Research and Development Consortium that hereinafter referred to as WVHRDC. It shall hold office at the DOST Region VI, Magsaysay Village, La Paz, Iloilo City. During the initial months of the Consortium in 2011, the members decided to give the Chairmanship to the Center for Health and Development- Western Visayas (CHD-WV) with its Regional Director Dr. Ariel I. Valencia and the Co-Chairmanship to the Department of Science and Technology VI (DOST VI) under the leadership of Engr. Rowen R. Gelonga together with the appointment of the WVHRDC 1st Executive Director Dr. Alice Joan G. Ferrer of the University of the Philippines.
The primary objective of the WVHRDC, with twenty (20) active member institutions, is to strengthen the system of collaboration in Region VI in order to develop and enhance the capacity of institutions within the region engaged and with interest in health research, as a strategy to improve the health conditions of its people.
The WVHRDC is composed of the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP, SECRETARIAT and Committees on HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, RESEARCH MANAGEMENT, ETHICS REVIEW and RESEARCH UTILIZATION. It has also created committees on SPECIAL PROJECTS and RESOURCE GENERATION last March 2013 which will take charge of other projects related to the consortium's functions, mission and vision.
The WVHRDC Take Off Activities
2011
2011, was a year of full and new activities for the consortium and on August 10-12, 2011 the 5th Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) Week Celebration was held in Region VI. During the activity the WVHRDC was the first to launch a book of abstract entitled “Bulong” and Training Awards in Health Research for Region VI Scholars. Also, during the PNHRS the WVHRDC conducted the First Student Health Research Competition which was conceptualized to showcase outstanding and relevant student researchers with Science and Technology impact on health nationwide.
To encourage the conduct of health research to strengthen health research capability of the Western Visayas Health Research and Development Consortium (WVHRDC) a Training Awards on Health Research for Region VI Scholar was conducted.
The implementation of the Training Course was a joint effort of the four committees of WVHRDC: Human Resource Development (HRDC) Committee, Research Management (RMC) Committe, Ethics Review Committee (ERC), and the Research Utilization (formerly Information Dissemination) Committee (RUC). Training Course 1 will be spearheaded by HR committee and Training Course 2 will be spearheaded by RM committee. In both training courses, the Ethics committee will provide full support. Supplementary to the Training Courses 1 & 2 would be a research dissemination activity to be spearheaded by the RU committee. Similarly, announcement of the availability of the training award will be the responsibility of the RU committee.
The Training Scholars underwent intensive training on making a proposal in health research. The training consists of classroom lectures, proposal presentations, and mentoring.
The Training Scholars were required to present their research proposal based on the identified areas for Research and development as an output of training activity. After which, the committee prioritized the proposals for funding.
In order to establish a Regional Research Fund (RRF) on the approved Research Proposals submitted by the Training Scholars from the member institution in Region VI WVHRDC fuse together their resources. The Department of Health-Center for Health Development (DOH) – Western Visayas has given P 500,000.00 for 2011 and P 615,000.00 for 2012. The West Visayas State University Medical Center (WVSUMC) funded P348,865.00 for 2011 and the Department of Science and Technology Region VI (DOST VI) provided a counterpart fund of P 400,000.00 for the year 2011 and P 322,700.00 for 2012 from the DOST VI Grants, subsidies and Contributions Fund.
The consortium, very eager in promoting these innovative ideas, first proposed the training scholarship during the Executive Committee meeting on the first quarter. Engr. Rowen R. Gelonga, DOST VI Regional Director and WVHRDC Co-Chairperson, encouraged the member institutions to finance qualified research proposals from this training scholarship especially those researches’ objectives are in line with the institution’s interest and with a market-competent output to encourage amateur local researchers in conducting health studies. As mentioned previously, the DOH CHD WV, WVSUMC, and DOST VI have contributed to fund the first batch of approved research proposals to encourage other member institutions to fund proposals in the future. Furthermore, the continuing financial and technical support of the PCHRD to the regional researches also inspired the local researchers to submit proposals in tune with the local or national research agenda.
(2012 and 2013 activities will be posted soon...)
