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ACRI bags honors at 2023 Healthy Pilipinas Awards
Pasay City, Philippines – 27 October 2023 – The ASMPH Center for Research and Innovation (ACRI) proudly announces its remarkable achievements at the 2023 Healthy Pilipinas Awards for Partners, hosted by the Philippines Department of Health (DOH) - Healthy Promotion Bureau (HPB) in collaboration with the Galing Pook Foundation. The awarding ceremony took place on October 27, 2023, at the PICC Reception Hall in Pasay City, with the aim of recognizing exceptional contributions by government and non-government institutions toward the promotion of healthier people, environments, and systems.
ACRI's outstanding projects, aimed at advancing environmental health research and translating knowledge into actionable evidence for policy-making and action planning, have been honored in two key categories:
Gold Award: Maging MaTAALino – Protecting the Health of People and Environment Against Arsenic in Drinking Water Sources in Batangas Province
The Maging MaTAALino project, led by Dr. Geminn Louis C. Apostol, pioneered research on arsenic contamination in Batangas. This groundbreaking initiative resulted in the development of risk communication programs and materials, which were disseminated throughout the province. Additionally, it led to the formation of the Taal Volcano Environmental Health Task Force (EnviHealth Team) in collaboration with DOH-Center for Health Development (DOH-CHD) CALABARZON, spearheaded by Engr. Peter Herrera, and the Batangas Medical Center-Poison Control Center, under the guidance of Dr. Rhodora Reyes-Madrid.
Bronze Award: National Environmental Health Action Plan 2030 (NEHAP 2030)
NEHAP 2030 served as a comprehensive blueprint for creating a health-enabling environment for both current and future generations, ensuring the alignment of these national plans for Environmental Health with the Universal Health Care Law, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the DOH’s Health Promotion Framework Strategy. For more details, kindly refer to the following links:
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Blog: https://acri.ph/content/towards-a-healthier-future-for-all-filipinos-acri-
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Publication: https://bit.ly/HPBNEHAP2030
These awards not only underscore ACRI's unwavering commitment to advancing environmental health research in the Philippines but also emphasize their dedication to converting knowledge into tangible solutions for policy development and action implementation. ACRI's accolades at the 2023 Healthy Pilipinas Awards demonstrate their pivotal role in driving positive change and innovation in the realm of public health and environmental well-being.
Awarding of 2023 Healthy Pilipinas Awards for Partners featuring Dr. Rosary Frances L. Valenzuela, Dr. Geminn Louis C. Apostol, Dr. Lourdes Bernadette Sumpaico-Tanchanco, and Ms. Samantha Julia L. Eala of the ACRI team from left to right.
Ceremony of the 2023 Healthy Pilipinas Awards for Partners starring the ACRI team and the organizers – DOH-HPB and Galing Pook Foundation.
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A TAALe of Arsenic: Sharing the narrative through an interactive map
Arsenic is a highly toxic and carcinogenic trace metal that can potentially contaminate groundwater sources in volcanic regions and affect communities in the area, like those residing around the Taal Volcano. The volcano’s eruption last 2020 encouraged an investigation into the quality of groundwater sources in communities surrounding the volcano. In response, the EnviHealth team in ACRI conducted a comparative documentation, “Arsenic in Groundwater Sources from Selected Communities Surrounding Taal Volcano, Philippines”. Water samples from 26 wells were collected across 11 municipalities and 1 city in Batangas province within danger zones from the volcano which were used to analyze total arsenic levels of the samples. Geographic coordinates of the sampling points were also recorded for mapping.
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EcoWaste, ACRI zooms in on Microplastics
In anticipation of Earth Day, environmental watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition organized a seminar last April 18, 2024 in partnership with Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Center for Research and Innovation (ACRI), University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UP MSI), and the International Pollutants Elimination Network-Southeast and East Asia (IPEN-SEA) to talk about the prevalence and impacts of microplastics in the environment, as well as their effects on human health.