BAGUIO CITY (PIA) –The  Cordillera Regional Health Research and Development Consortium (CRHRDC) is inviting health promoting institutions to become  its partners in  line with efforts to strengthen health research systems management.  

Department of Science and Technology Cordillera (DOST-CAR) Assistant Regional Director for Finance and Administration, and CRHRDC director Maria Rowena Madarang presented the  consortium, its  mission and vision, including membership during the Regional Social Development Committee (RSDC) 1st Quarter meeting held recently.

Madarang shared that the CHRSDCs reason for its existence is by virtue of Republic Act10532 or an Act institutionalizing the Philippine Health Research System (PNHRS), that  provides central direction, leadership and coordination in health science and technology.

 “It is specifically integrating the national framework for health research in the country, so if we have this PHNRS framework, this is mirrored in all the regions of the country forming a network of regional research consortia,” she said.

She explained that the CRHRDC is  a multi-sectoral organization, and its members  are from the academe, government planning bodies, hospitals and private sectors.  Its  objective is to facilitate and assist in the realization of the mandate of the PCHRD to promote and coordinate health research related activities in the region.

 “We aim to be a responsive, dynamic, and ethically responsible health research community ensuring a participatory and empowering research process. Our mission is to provide, promote and sustain an enabling health research and development framework toward evidence-informed health and health-related policies and actions working for the attainment of regional and national goals,” she added.

The CRHRDC is likewise a clearing house for all related researches.

“In the evaluation of health researches, this is not an easy task because we have to work on the technical as well as the ethical concerns, eto lang po iyong research and development that we have to look on the ethical side because our subjects are humans. Also,  if we look into the indigenous plans, we have to undergo  the respective customary laws and practices or the Free Prior Informed Consent,“she said. 

The CRHRDC is governed by a Board and it is chaired by Commission on Higher Education, and co-chaired by the  Department of Health  with the DOST as the secretariat, and 28 members.

Under the governing board is an executive committee,  managed  by the Consortium director, assisted by a regional coordinator, and  four committee chairs for  Research Management Committee, Research Ethics Committee, Capacity Building Committee, and Research Utilization Committee.

For further information, interested institutions may connect with the CRHRDC through the following: email-  crhrdcar@gmail.com, @crhrdc, and  telephone  numbers: (074) 422 2214/09171672546. (JDP/MAWC/PIA-CAR)