Navigating PhilHealth from the Ground Up 

In Malabon City, many poor women and informal workers were still paying out of pocket or skipping care altogether, despite being entitled to national health insurance through PhilHealth. 

Confusing rules, stigma around teen pregnancy and contraception, and weak coordination between the local government, PhilHealth, and communities meant that health care coverage meant to be "universal" was not reaching those who needed it most. 

Likhaan Community Organizer assisting a participant for availment of PhilHealth benefits

EI Fellow Ana P. Santos (2018, Philippines), working with Likhaan Center for Women’s Health, designed a project that treated financial protection as a core equity issue. They trained community members as PhilHealth Navigators and community “gatekeepers” who could explain benefits, answer questions, and accompany neighbors through enrollment and claims. About 95% of these Community Health Promoters were women. 

The team ran 653 education and discussion sessions on social health insurance and the Universal Health Care Act, reaching mostly women, and co-created comics, games, pathway guides and social media content using local language and real-life situations.  

Tarpaulin of Ladder Game on the Floor

They produced and distributed 2,500 “Couple Goals” comics and 408 “Pathway” IEC materials explaining step by step how low-income households can secure PhilHealth coverage and launched them at a town hall attended by about 210 community members. A second batch of PhilHealth Navigators (23 women and 1 man) was also trained. 

New Staff Checking Names on PhilHealth Cloud 

The project showed that community-based education and organizing not only builds trust for but also increases and enrollment of health care services. Women leaders became trusted local navigators, helping neighbours enroll, renew and actually use PhilHealth while reducing shame around contraception and teen pregnancy. Youth and parents engaged actively with the creative tools, which are now being explored for replication by government agencies and NGOs. 

Ana and the team learned that trust and direct dialogue are as important as policy: people engaged when information came from familiar faces, and when PhilHealth and Local Government Units officials were willing to show up, listen and commit to concrete changes 

Poster of Pathway to Enrollment

This story is part of the Equity Initiative’s 10-year anniversary, celebrating a decade of leadership, collaboration, and impact across Southeast Asia and China.