Determining sustainable global health policies: An impact evaluation of the integration of non-biomedicine and biomedicine into local health care systems in the Philippines

Traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine functions as the primary source of healthcare for a majority of populations in developing countries. Medical pluralism, of biomedical and non-biomedical healthcare, presents in complex and often unstructured combinations, representing the predominant healthcare model in many developing countries. Global health policy has sought to structure this medical pluralism along a model of integration of non-biomedical systems into state and local biomedical healthcare systems. This policy has been implemented in the Philippines since legislation of the Traditional and Alternative Healthcare Law was approved in 1997, and the official division of the Philippine Department of Health, The Philippine Institute for Traditional & Alternative Care, was created in 1998. To date, no impact evaluation of the implementation of this policy has been carried out.

This research, evaluates the impact of this global healthcare policy on local healthcare systems and on the health of populations in four communities in the Philippines. Two communities have fully adopted the policy of integration and two other communities have not adopted the policy and demonstrate a different typology of medical pluralism. A minimum sample size of N=100 is randomly selected in each community. A three-part design of qualitative-quantitative-qualitative data collection is utilised. Surveys and semi-structured interviews evaluate reported changes in community healthcare systems and changes in individual, family, and community health since implementation. Quantitative data collection, is randomly selected from community and local government records. Multilevel analysis is performed. The implications of this research provide an evidence base by which to understand the appropriateness of this global policy of integration for all contexts.