Centering Indigenous Health Equity - Incite at Columbia University

Incubated Project

Centering Indigenous Health Equity

  • Funding Program Global Change Program
  • Timeframe 2024–2025
  • Affiliated Organizations
    • Atipan Project Center for Informatics, University of San Agustin
  • Location Iloilo City, Philippines
  • Team Lead Dr. Romulo (Jong) de Castro

As the Philippines rolls out universal healthcare, some of the country’s most marginalized people risk being left behind. Indigenous peoples in particular—who have faced centuries of land loss and discrimination through colonization and who live primarily in remote communities—have seen their needs fall to the wayside.

In response, Professors Romulo (Jong) de Castro, John Paul Petrola and Roselle Rivera at the University of San Agustin’s Center for Informatics have been working to enhance health outcomes in twelve underserved Indigenous communities. Through the Atipan Project, they have provided over 7,000 telehealth consultations and have trained 23 community health workers.

With support from the Global Change Program, the team, led by de Castro, will expand this work by hosting dialogues about healthcare access and needs among the Philippines’ Indigenous peoples. Dubbed Indigenous Health Equity Conversations, these sessions will be led by the Ati people, who have recently experienced a transition to more facile healthcare access via digital health through Atipan.

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The Ati facilitators will relate their experiences in telehealth and engage other communities in discussing what health equity could and should look like. The key ideas and principles provided by participants will be distilled into policy recommendations to shape the Philippines’ ongoing implementation of universal healthcare toward more equitable outcomes for Indigenous communities.

About the Team

  • Dr. Romulo (Jong) de Castro

    Life sciences researcher, biomedical informatics professional and healthcare leader focused on data for health, environment and governance. He is director of the Center for Informatics at the University of San Agustin.

  • Professor John Paul Petrola

    Indigenous People communities expert who has facilitated the implementation of Atipan in 15 communities in Western Visayas.

  • Professor Roselle Rivera

    Social scientist and a community development expert who works to ensure gender justice in digital health technologies as they are implemented in low-resource settings.

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