3 August 2004. NIH finds home in medical mag

    MEDICAL doctors, allied health professionals and students of science shall have access to the numerous studies undertaken by the National Institute of Health (NIH), the country's leading research institution, through Medical Observer, the country's leading medical publication.

    A special section called "The NIH Forum" shall appear in the print and web editions of the monthly publication to highlight completed and ongoing health and medical research projects of the University of the Philippines-manila-affiliated institution.

    Outside of academic publications and peer-reviewed journals, these studies will first see print in Medical Observer, and then disseminated to the national media. This way, a larger audience will have access to their results, which are often of public-health significance.

    Also, the results of NIH studies in need of immediate public attention shall be posted in real time on the Medical Observer website www.medobserver.com.

    Aside from research, "The NIH Forum" will contain health policies developed by the institution as well as opinion pieces coming from the NIH's pool of doctors, academics, inventors, and other researchers

4 August 2004. Health group finds home in "Medical Observer'

    MEDICAL doctors, allied health professionals and students of science shall have access to the numerous studies undertaken by the National Institute of Health (NIH), the country's leading research institution, through Medical Observer, the country's leading medical publication.

    A special section called "The NIH Forum" shall appear in the print and web editions of the monthly publication to highlight completed and ongoing health and medical research projects of the University of the Philippines-manila-affiliated institution.

    Outside of academic publications and peer-reviewed journals, these studies will first see print in Medical Observer, and then disseminated to the national media. This way, a larger audience will have access to their results, which are often of public-health significance.

    The results of NIH studies in need of immediate public attention shall be posted in real time on the Medical Observer website www.medobserver.com.

    Aside from research, "The NIH Forum" will contain health policies developed by the institution as well as opinion pieces coming from the NIH's pool of doctors, academics, inventors, and other researchers.

    The partnership between the NIH and Medical Observer, was made formal in June with the signing of a memorandum of agreement.

    Signatories to the MOA were Dr. Marita Reyes, UP-Manila chancellor and Ding Generoso, Medical Observer, editor in chief.

8 August 2004. NIH finds home in Medical Observer

    Doctors, allied health professionals and students of science shall have access to the numerous studies undertaken by the National Institute of Health (NIH), the country's leading research institution, through Medical Observer, the country's leading medical publication.

    A special section called "The NIH Forum" shall appear in the print and internet editions of the monthly publication to highlight completed and ongoing health and medical research projects of the NIH.

    Outside of academic publications and peer-reviewed journals, these studies will first see print in Medical Observer, and then disseminated to the national media. This way, a larger audience will have access to their results, which are often of public-health significance.

    Also, the results of NIH studies in need of immediate public attention shall be posted in real time on the Medical Observer website www.medobserver.com.Aside from research, "The NIH Forum" will contain health policies developed by the institution as well as opinion pieces coming from the NIH's pool of doctors, academics, inventors, and other researchers.

    The partnership between the NIH and Medical Observer, was made formal in June with the signing of a memorandum of agreement. Signatories to the MOA were Dr. Marita Reyes, UP-Manila chancellor and Ding Generoso, Medical Observer, editor in chief. Also present at the signing were DR. Jaime Galvez-Tan, NIH executive director, and Jena Fetalino, Medical Observer publication manager.

    The NIH, established in 1996, initially-operated as a research arm of the University of the Philippines system. It became the national health-research center in 1998 through Republic Act 8503 or the Health Research units; The Institutes of Ophthalmology, Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, Clinical Epidemology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Human Genetics, Child Health and Human Development Studies, the Ear and the National Telehealth Center. The NIH also hosts multidisciplinary study groups.

16 August 2004. Manila Hospital is RP's 'baby factory'

    Everyday at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Sta. Cruz, Manila, dozens of women can be found lying on the floor, their new-born babies wrapped in a pouch of cloth and strapped to their chest.

    Some 70 to 100 babies are born every day at the 700-bed maternity hospital, around 15 of them premature or with a low birth-weight. So, with only 14 incubators at the hospital and the weakest children needing several days' stay, incubator space is at a premium.

    With no money to buy new incubators, the hospital five years ago began using so-called "Kangaroo Mother Care" method which involves putting only the very weakest babies in mechanical incubators and swaddling the rest with their mothers.

    Pioneered by a hospital in Bogota, Columbia, 1n 1979, the method has spread around the developing world, being used in hospitals in some 40 countries, and is being seriously looked at in the United States and Europe.

    Since the program was adopted in 1999, the Fabella hospital has seen a dramatic 30 percent fall in deaths among low birth-weight babies, said Dr. Socorro Mendoza, who heads the program.

    The babies' heartbeat and temperature remain much more stable when they are with their mothers and they tend to gain weight faster and go home a lot quicker than those in incubators feed and stimulate the babies, which the mechanical ones cannot do.

    The results of the program have been so positive that the hospital has now begun training seven other government hospitals in Metro Manila in the method, Mendoza said.

    Improving child health care is considered crucial in this country of 84 million people, where the infant mortality rate stands at 19.7 per 1,000 live births. In most developing countries 17 out of 1,000 babies born alive die within the first few weeks of life, according to data published in the Manila-based Medical Observer.

    The predominantly Roman Catholic country has one of the highest population growth rates in Asia averaging 2.3 percent annually which is around 5,000 births a day.

    Many of these babies are premature low-weight babies which, according to the World Health Organization's definition, are babies born weighing less than 2.5 kilos, or 5.5 pounds.

    "Caring for these babies puts a tremendous strain on the public health system of poor countries, like the Philippines," Mendoza told AFP.

    "In developed countries these babies are put in incubators, which are expensive and remain in the neo-natal intensive care unit for months.

    "What makes the Kangaroo Mother Care program such a godsend for countries like ours is that we simply go back to nature at very little cost.

    "Like the marsupial the program is named after, baby and mother should be together as one," she said. -AFP

September 2004. Partnership for health

Mirror: The Healthy Lifestyle Magazine

    Medical doctors, allied health professionals, and students of science shall now have access to the numerous studies undertaken by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the country's leading research institution, through MEDICAL OBSERVER, a leading medical publication.

    A regular section, called "The NIH Forum," will appear in the print and web editions of the monthly publication to highlight completed and ongoing health and medical research projects of the University of the Philippines-Manila-affiliated institution.'

    Dr. Maria V. Reyes, Up-Manila chancellor, and Conrado Generoso, MEDICAL OBSERVER editor in chief, signed an agreement making the NIH and MEDICAL OBSERVER partners in health information dissemination. Witnessing the signing were (from left) Paulde Guzman, MEDICAL OBSERVER associate editor; Prof. Roland Simbulan, UP-Manila vice chancellor for research; Dr. Jaime Galvez-Tan, NIH executive director; Dr. Vicente Belizario Jr., NIH deputy director; Dr. Ma. Esterlita Uy; and Dr. Manuel Agulto, director of the Institute of Ophthalmology. Under the agreement, MEDICAL OBSERVER will have a regular section called "The NIH Forum" in both its print and web editions devoted to studies and policy initiatives of the NIH.

9 November 2004. Journal for expectant moms

    Every second, a miracle of a new life takes place.

    And yet if we comb the shelves of bookstores and gift shops everywhere, do we see journals or diaries especially for pregnant women, where they could put on paper thoughts, feelings and experiences?

    Hardly. Thus moments unique to pregnancy are often lost to the unpredictability of memory.

    Now available in National Bookstore outlets, Goodwill Bookstore, Merriam and Webster's Bookstore, Fully Booked Rockwell and Babyland stores is Mosman Communication's newest publication, "My Journey through Pregnancy." With it, mothers-to-be are assured of a keepsake-in beautifully designed pages and well-laid out sections, which include doctors' reminders, pictures, and hopes and dreams for the baby. The journal sells for P299 per copy.

    Mosman also publishes Medical Observer, the country's leading medical magazine that won an award for editorial excellence from the Society of Publishers in Asia in 2002, and The Filipino Midwife, a publication for midwives.

    Soon to hit the bookshelves is Baby Minder, a four-booklet baby care reference for mothers. It talks about baby's proper nutrition, grooming and hygiene, growth and development, and common illnesses.

9 November 2004. A journal for mothers now available

    Every second, a miracle of a new life takes place.

    And yet if we comb the shelves of bookstores and gift shops everywhere, do we see journals or diaries especially for pregnant women, where they could put on paper thoughts, feelings and experiences?

    Hardly. Thus moments unique to pregnancy are often lost to the unpredictability of memory.

    Now available in National Bookstore outlets, Goodwill Bookstore, Merriam and Webster's Bookstore, Fully Booked Rockwell and Babyland stores is Mosman Communication's newest publication, "My Journey through Pregnancy." With it, mothers-to-be are assured of a keepsake-in beautifully designed pages and well-laid out sections, which include doctors' reminders, pictures, and hopes and dreams for the baby. The journal sells for P299 per copy.

    Mosman also publishes Medical Observer, the country's leading medical magazine that won an award for editorial excellence from the Society of Publishers in Asia in 2002, and The Filipino Midwife, a publication for midwives.

    Soon to hit the bookshelves is Baby Minder, a four-booklet baby care reference for mothers. It talks about baby's proper nutrition, grooming and hygiene, growth and development, and common illnesses.

13-14 November 2004. A journal for mothers

    Every second, a miracle of a new life takes place.

    And yet if we comb the shelves of bookstores and gift shops everywhere, do we see journals or diaries especially for pregnant women, where they could put on paper thoughts, feelings and experiences?

    Hardly. Thus moments unique to pregnancy are often lost to the unpredictability of memory.

    Now available in National Bookstore outlets, Goodwill Bookstore, Merriam and Webster's Bookstore, Fully Booked Rockwell and Babyland stores is Mosman Communication's newest publication, "My Journey through Pregnancy." With it, mothers-to-be are assured of a keepsake-in beautifully designed pages and well-laid out sections, which include doctors' reminders, pictures, and hopes and dreams for the baby. The journal sells for P299 per copy.

    Mosman also publishes Medical Observer, the country's leading medical magazine that won an award for editorial excellence from the Society of Publishers in Asia in 2002, and The Filipino Midwife, a publication for midwives.

    Soon to hit the bookshelves is Baby Minder, a four-booklet baby care reference for mothers. It talks about baby's proper nutrition, grooming and hygiene, growth and development, and common illnesses.

15 December 2004. A journal for moms

Woman Today

    Having a hard time combing the shelves of bookstores and gift shops everywhere for journals or diaries about pregnant women? Not anymore, because Mosman Communication's My Journey through Pregnancy is now available in all National Bookstore, Merriam and Webster's Bookstore, Fully Booked(Rockwell)) and Babyland stores. Mothers-to-be are now assured of a keepsake in beautifully designed pages and well laid-out sections, which include doctor's reminders, picture and hopes and dreams for the baby.

    Mosman also publishes Medical Observer, the country's leading medical magazine that won an award for editorial excellence from the Society of Publishers in Asia in 2002. The Filipino Midwife is also published by Mosman. Soon to hit the bookshelves is Baby Minder, a four-booklet baby care reference for mothers. It talks about baby's proper nutrition, grooming and hygiene, growth, development and common illnesses.