The COVID-19 pandemic has become a public health crisis in the Philippines and the attention of national and local health authorities is focused on managing the fluctuating COVID-19 cases. This study presents a method that integrates risk management tools into health care decision-making processes to enhance the understanding and utilization of risk-based thinking in public health decision making. The risk assessment consists of the identification of the key risk factors of the COVID-19 contagion via bow-tie diagrams. Second, the safety controls for each risk factor relevant to the Davao City context are taken into account and are identified as barriers in the bow-tie. After which, the prioritization of the identified COVID-19 risks, as well as the effectiveness of the proposed interventions, is performed using the analytic hierarchy process. Consequently, the dynamics of COVID-19 management initiatives were explored using these priorities and a system of ordinary differential equations. Our results show that reducing the number of COVID-19 fatalities should be the top priority of the health authorities. In turn, we predict that the COVID-19 contagion can be controlled and eliminated in Davao city in three-month time after prioritizing the fatalities. In order to reduce the COVID-19 fatalities, health authorities should ensure an adequate number of COVID-ready ICU facilities. The general public, on the other hand, should follow medical and science-based advice and suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients should strictly follow isolation protocols. Overall, an informed decision-making is necessary to avoid the unwanted consequences of an uncontrolled contagion.

Monsoons affect the Philippines’ weather and climate in different regions during the year, which leads to significant changes to coastal ecosystems. Specifically, while the northeast monsoon (NEM) season brings less rainfall the succeeding dry summer season becomes relatively hotter and drier. Maintaining a healthy coastal habitat is critical because it is the main source of income, food, and nutrition for many households, especially children. Hence, this study examined 270 fishing households – including 315 children – to assess if there were significant changes in fish catch and revenues during the NEM and summer seasons and how these changes affected food consumption and nutrient intakes of children in a marine protected area (MPA) in Davao Gulf. The study found that catch per unit (CPUE) effort levels and fishing revenues were higher in the NEM as compared to the summer season. Moreover, food consumption and nutrient intakes of children were significantly reduced from NEM to the summer season and were also insufficient in both seasons, according to the Philippine Dietary Reference Intakes (PDRI) standards. Thus, while issues regarding micro and macronutrient deficiencies of children in the coastal areas should be addressed, more focused intervention is needed during the summer season. Furthermore, tourism-based services such as recreational and site-seeing activities can be an option to provide more livelihood and income opportunities for fishers. However, if possible, such activities should be intensified during the summer season because children are more vulnerable due to their relatively more inadequate food and nutrient intakes.

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The COVID-19 outbreak has become a global health crisis requiring immediate attention to develop different interventions. While several studies were done to understand its dynamics to determine the most vulnerable groups, the differential effects of the factors associated with contracting COVID-19 in different communities call for a localized understanding of its risks. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the risk factors that drive the likelihood of contracting COVID-19 in selected regions of Mindanao during the pre-mass vaccination period. Probit and Logit models were employed to analyze the association of the socio-demographic, economic, and climatic factors to a total of 64,507 and 6,599 laboratory results from the Department of Health Region Northern Mindanao and the Zamboanga Peninsula, respectively. In both regions, age, sex, being a health worker, having COVID-19 close contact, and the implementation of the General Community Quarantine were found to significantly affect the likelihood of acquiring the COVID-19 disease. In addition, in Northern Mindanao, factors such as travel history, rainfall, poverty incidence, and the implementation of the Modified General Community Quarantine were also found to significantly affect the likelihood of acquiring the disease. This study provides empirical evidence for developing context-specific interventions to effectively manage and prepare for future COVID-19 outbreaks and other infectious diseases with similar dynamics.

The community structure of avifauna along the urbanization gradient in Mintal, Davao Citywas surveyed and analyzed. A total of 4,210 individuals from 34 species belonging to 23 fam-ilies were recorded. Seven species are Philippine endemics and five are introduced species.Correlation and regression analysis showed a positive relationship between increasing vegeta-tion cover with species richness and a negative relationship with abundance. Oppositely, in-creasing urbanization (increase built-up cover, pedestrian and traffic rate) were observed tohave positive relationship to abundance but negative relationship to species richness. Thus, the avian community in the urbanization gradient of Mintal, Davao City follows the general ac-cepted trend that in heavily disturbed areas, species richness is at its lowest while total birdabundance is at its peak. This study also suggests the importance of green spaces with lessertraffic rate in urban landscapes that could support higher avian diversity which includes Philip-pine endemic species.