Objective: To determine the prevalence of dental caries and the level of sugar consumption among 6-12-y-old schoolchildren in La Trinidad, Benguet, Philippines. Design: A Cross-sectional study as a baseline survey for a later intervention program. A questionnaire was distributed to obtain information on dental history and total consumption of food with sugar. Caries were diagnosed based on the WHO recommendation. Results: A total of 1200 schoolchildren, aged 6-12 y were included. The prevalence of dental caries in primary dentition was 71.7% and in the permanent dentition, 68.2%. The mean total decayed, extracted due to caries and filled primary teeth (DMFT) and decayed, missing and filled permanent teeth (DMFT) were 4.12 (s.d. 4.03) and 2.40 (s.d. 2.57), respectively. As age increased the mean DMFT increased. Majority (70%) had tooth brushing practices, and less than half (42.5%) had a dental visit only when necessary. Their sugar intake was twice more than the WHO recommendation with a mean daily total intake of 59 g per person. Most common sources of dietary sugar were hard candies (89%), banana cue (84.9%), camote cue (84.9%) and soft drinks (84.4%). No significant correlation was found between sugar intake and dental caries. Conclusion:The results indicate that dental caries is highly prevalent and increase with augmented sugar consumption. This maybe due to a widespread neglect of oral health and an increased availability of refined sugary products. Caries rates mirrored those of the developing countries with untreated lesions dominating all ages. The high level of untreated caries in all age groups is a cause for concern.

Community health workers, as in many other countries, are the front liners in the delivery of primary health care at the grassroots level, both in urban and rural communities in the Philippines. The term CHWs embraces a variety of community health aides who are selected, trained and are working in the communities from which they come. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), CHWs should be: (1) members of the communities where they work, (2) selected by the communities, (3) answerable to the communities for their activities, (4) supported by the health system but not necessarily as part of its organization, and (5) should have shorter training than professional workers. 1In the Philippines, CHWs refer mainly to Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) although CHWs can also include Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNSs), Rural Health Midwives (RHMs) and Mother Leaders (MLs). In some areas of the country, there are MLs who perform the same roles as BHWs. Mostly females, BHWs are volunteers who are supposed to be accredited by the Local Health Board (LHB) and who have been trained to provide primary health care services in the community in accordance with the guidelines promulgated by the Department of Health (DOH). 2 The number of health workers in the community is set by the DOH. It is determined by the ideal ratio of BHWs relative to the number of households, provided that the total number of BHWs nationwide shall not exceed one percent (1%) of the total population. 2 BHWs, usually of age 20 to 45 years, play significant roles in providing primary health care in the communities they serve. 1 A study conducted in Camarines Sur in the Luzon island in the Philippines reported that majority of BHWs

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ObjectiveTo evaluate the validity and reliability of the Philippines (Tagalog) Short Form 36 Health Survey version 2 (SF-36v2®) standard questionnaire among Filipinos residing in two cities.Study Design and SettingThe official Philippines (Tagalog) SF-36v2 standard (4-week recall) version was pretested on 30 participants followed by formal and informal cognitive debriefing. To obtain the feedback on translation by bilingual respondents, each SF-36v2 question was stated first in English followed by Tagalog. No revisions to the original questionnaire were needed except that participants thought it was appropriate to incorporate "po" in the instructions to make it more polite. Face-to-face interviews of 562 participants aged 20-50 years living in two barangays (villages) in the highly urbanized city of Makati City (Metro Manila) and in urban and rural barangays in Tanauan City (province of Batangas) were subsequently conducted. Content validity, item level validity, reliability and factor structure of the SF-36v2 (Tagalog) were examined. ResultsContent validity of the SF-36v2 was assessed to be adequate for assessing health status among Filipinos. Item means of Philippines (Tagalog) SF-36v2 were similar with comparable scales in the US English, Singapore (English and Chinese) and Thai SF-36 version 1. Item-scale correlation exceeded 0.4 for all items except the bathing item in PF (correlation: 0.31). In exploratory factor analysis, the US two-component model was supported. However, in confirmatory factor analysis, the Japanese three-component model fit the Tagalog data better than the US two-component model. ConclusionsThe Philippines (Tagalog) SF-36v2 is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring health status among residents of Makati City (Metro Manila) and Tanauan City (Province of Batangas).

Cardiac events occurred commonly among initially asymptomatic Filipinos with the coved Brugada ECG pattern. Such patients need to be followed up closely.