Naga launches data governance project to improve healthcare system

By Maida M. Boragay

Community health workers in Naga may soon spend less time tied to administrative work and more time saving lives.

Dismantling the systemic bottlenecks that slow down grassroots healthcare, Naga City has partnered with global and national health experts to improve its health information system and reduce the administrative burden on frontline workers.

Pioneered as the Health Data Governance Project, this initiative aims to steer the city away from a mere culture of compliance reporting and toward aggressive, data-driven healthcare planning.

Led by research scientist Dr. Tricia Robredo of Ariadne Labs—a joint health systems innovation center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health—the project recently concluded its Naga City Barangay Health Data Process Co-Design Workshop. This multi-sectoral coalition also brings together the Unilab Center for Health Policy (UCHP) and the Angat Buhay.

This collaborative push comes at a critical time, as primary healthcare in many Philippine communities has remained stubbornly paper-based. In Naga City, this heavy reliance on manual reporting has severely hampered the timely utilization of data for critical health planning and decision-making.

More critically, it has turned community midwives and Barangay Health Workers (BHWs), which serves as the literal backbone of local healthcare, into clerical processors, overburdening them with administrative tasks.

To address this, the 2-week workshop gathered midwives from across the 27 barangays of the city to dissect the vulnerabilities of their current data system. Rather than imposing a top-down bureaucratic model, the project focuses on co-designed solutions built directly with frontliners to simplify the reporting process, allowing them to spend less time filling out paperwork and more time focusing on patient care.

Proponents of the initiative emphasize that sustainable improvement in public health is only possible by actively nurturing local capacity and securing the full political and financial backing to maintain these interventions over the long term.

According to Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo, this grassroots empowerment is the foundation of the city's broader medical strategy.

"By capacitating and fully supporting our dedicated midwives and Barangay Health Workers (BHWs), we will be able to conduct a comprehensive health profile of every single Nagueño," the Mayor said. "When we know the exact health needs of our constituents, we can drastically improve the delivery of our health services—ensuring medicine, care, and attention go exactly where they are needed most."

Building on the city's recent expansion of the local health board to grant midwives a formal, institutional voice in policy formulation, the project now aims to address remaining capacity gaps by partnering with academic institutions to deploy nursing students who can assist BHWs in data gathering.

These structural upgrades are also designed to reshape how Naga City approaches technology. While Naga continues its push toward becoming a smart city, project proponents warned against making premature technological leaps.

Dr. Robredo pointed out that digital tools are only as good as the infrastructure supporting them, advocating instead for a "foundation-first" digitalization strategy. This means prioritizing the acquisition of basic equipment, securing reliable internet connectivity, and managing institutional culture change before deploying advanced tech tools.

With their strategic recommendations presented last June 4 to key stakeholders including Department of Health (DOH) Bicol Regional Director Rosa Maria Rempillo, Naga City has signaled its readiness to hit the ground running.

For Naga, this comprehensive overhaul is the definitive blueprint to ensure that the promise of Universal Health Care is felt where it matters most: on the ground, by the frontliners who carry the system, and the Nagueños they protect.