B4
HEALTH & WELLNESS
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY July 16 - 31, 2016
Fraser Health’s overdose strategy
forges ahead
SURREY – Fraser Health
is rapidly implementing an aggressive strategy to combat drug
overdoses and deaths in our region. The strategy, which is already underway, includes:
• Identifying priority sites
for supervised consumption services
• Increasing administration of naloxone and accessibility
to take-home naloxone
• Launching public awareness campaigns targeting different types of people who use
drugs
• Engaging municipal and
community partners on overdose
response and prevention
• Providing better supports to improve access to opioid substitution therapy such as
suboxone
“There is no single solution to the public health emergency we are facing. It is a
complex concern that requires
a multi-faceted approach to pre-
vent overdoses, encourage supervised consumption, and provide treatment options,” said Dr.
Victoria Lee, chief medical health
officer. “We started taking action
last fall when our data showed an
increase in overdoses, and this
strategy is a continuation of that
work through additional targeted
education, focused engagement
with our communities and enhanced access to naloxone.”
In the fall of 2015, Fraser Health began increasing the
number of take-home naloxone
kits provided to patients attending our emergency departments
for overdoses. All twelve Fraser
Health emergency departments
are now registered to dispense
take-home naloxone kits.
From January to May 2016,
857 take-home naloxone kits
were dispensed in Fraser Health
emergency departments, public
health units and via our community partners, representing
a nearly ten-fold increase from
the same period in 2015. In the
months ahead, we will continue
region-wide efforts to equip atrisk populations and their friends
and family with naloxone, increasing access in acute facilities
such as hospitals and non-acute
settings including public health
units. Additionally, we will continue working with community
partners including police and fire
departments, non-governmental
organizations, BC Housing and
others to improve access to naloxone.
“Our goal is to provide
take-home naloxone to every patient who leaves the hospital having survived an overdose. While
we encourage them to seek
treatment, take-home naloxone
equips them with a potentially
life-saving preventative measure
they can utilize if required,” said
Dr. Neil Barclay, emergency network regional medical director.
In collaboration with our
community partners, Fraser
Health monitors clusters of overdose events and alerts communities if adulterants or changes
in potency are suspected. We
communicate this information to
people who use drugs as quickly
as possible, including posters
and flyers at the street level, staff
outreach, communication with
community-based and peer organizations, online on our website, through our social media
channels and by issuing news
releases to local media.
Fraser Health is engaging
with our communities in a multisectoral, comprehensive, longterm approach to reduce overdoses encompassing prevention,
harm reduction and treatment.
As part of ongoing collaboration with our community partners, Fraser Health joined forces
with law enforcement and other
health authorities on an initial
public awareness campaign in
2015. In the coming weeks and
months, we will implement a new
comprehensive campaign that
targets the various at-risk populations including seasoned users,
recreational users, curious or atrisk users, and their friends and
family. We will also launch an online hub for the overdose emergency with information about
prevention, harm reduction and
treatment information.
Over the past several
months, Fraser Health has enhanced data collection pertaining to overdoses involving a
known or suspected opioid-containing substance to help inform
our regional response. Coroner’s
data shows between January and
end of June 2016, Fraser Health
saw 127 overdose deaths due
to opioids. This enhanced data,
when coupled with additional information to be provided by the
BC Coroners Service, will help us
target our efforts to focus on the
populations and communities
where they are needed most.
([email protected])
SM’s Henry Sy Sr. receives Ramon V. del Rosario Award
SM Founder and Chairman Henry Sy Sr. received the
Ramon V. del Rosario Award for
Nation Building at ceremonies
held recently at the Taipan Room
of the Tower Club in Makati City.
Sy was recognized for best
exemplifying the traits of the late
Ambassador Del Rosario, which
are entrepreneurial spirit, good
corporate citizenship, and an underlying passion for nation building.
The award is a partnership between JCI Manila and the
Asian Institute of Management’s
RVR Center for Corporate Social
Responsibility. It was named in
honor of JCI Manila’s founding
president and the acknowledged
Father of Philippine Modern Industry.
Since it was launched in
September, 2009, it has been
the premier awards program of
JCI Manila and it hopes to recog-
nize business leaders who have
not only been successful in their
own fields, but have also created
a great impact toward nationbuilding.
Past recipients of this
L ifetime Business Award program, include Ambassador Jesus Tambunting, Senen Bacani,
Oscar Lopez, Washington Sycip,
Vicente Paterno, Jaime Zobel de
Ayala, and Manuel V. Pangilinan.
(mb.com)
Trade deficit triples, sharp increase in imports
A sign of robust economy
and infrastructure projects –
NEDA
THE trade deficit of the Philippines in the first five months of
this year tripled in size to $9.81
billion from $3.33 billion a year
earlier, with a sharp increase in
imports seen as a sign of robust
economic growth.
Cumulative imports for the
five-month period surged 18.2
percent to $31.89 billion from
$26.97 billion a year earlier.
In May alone, imports increased by 39.3 percent year-onyear—the fastest in 22 years—to
total $6.736 billion in value. The
month’s trade balance, a deficit
of $2.02 billion, was slightly narrower than the revised $2.3 billion in the previous month, but in
sharp contrast with the $65 million surplus in May 2015.
Despite the phenomenal expansion of the trade deficit, the
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said
the increase in imports is a clear
signal of the domestic economic
conditions remaining robust and
the country focusing on infrastructure development.
“With its current upward
trend, we expect investments and
consumption to drive growth for
the rest of the year,” said the socioeconomic planning secretary,
Ernesto Pernia.
Electronic products, the top
import item in May, registered a
44.5 percent increase from the
year earlier to total $1.67 billion
and claimed a 24.8 percent share
of the month’s total imports.
Among other leading imports marking year-on-year increase were transport equipment
(up 108.6 percent to $703.61
million),
power
generating
and specialized machinery (up
96.7 percent to $151.98 mil-
lion), industrial machinery and
equipment (up 79.5 percent to
$495.38 million), plastics in primary and non-primary forms (up
79.3 percent to $196.54 million),
telecommunication equipment
and electrical machinery (up 77.7
percent to $193.79 million), miscellaneous manufactured articles
(up 45 percent to $185.87 million), other food and live animals
(up 33.7 percent to $299.94 million), and iron and steel (up 28.3
percent to $289.67 million).
According to NEDA, among
11 selected Asian countries, only
the Philippines posted doubledigit growth, while other countries declined.
Against the sluggish import
activities in the region, Pernia
said, “we must focus on fasttracking the country’s infrastructure development to support the
growth of our economy and improve our absorptive capacity for
investments.”
Joey Cuyegkeng, senior
economist at ING Bank Manila,
pointed out that higher imports
and wider trade deficit could lead
to a weakening of the local currency.
According to NEDA, the increase in local demand for capital and consumer goods drove
imports growth in May.
By commodity groups, the
agency said that import of capital
goods nearly doubled its growth
in May by posting a 99.9-percent increase, continuing on its
double-digit growth path for the
ninth consecutive month and the
16th consecutive month of positive growth.
Similarly, import of consumer goods increased by 47.2
percent to $1.2 billion in May due
to higher spending on both durable goods (92.4 percent) and
non-durable goods (15 percent),
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
driven by the higher demand for
passenger cars and motorized
cycles during the period.
Commenting on the import
of motor vehicles while the country suffers from perennial traffic
congestion, Pernia said that on
the upside, the high domestic
demand for vehicles could be a
source of growth if firms located
in the country could participate
in the manufacture of the parts
and components or even a complete car model.
China is a major source of
imports. However, imports from
Japan increased by 122.7 percent, driven by growing demand
for power-generating machines,
telecommunications equipment
and electrical machinery, followed by the United States, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and
Hong Kong.(M. Caraballo, MT)