Mindoro

Traditional and secluded: the Mangyanen living on the island of Mindoro

We always establish our projects where medicinal aid is especially needed. This is the case on Mindoro, a small Philippine island lying offshore of the capital Manila. 1.3 million people live there; about 275,000 of them belong to the indigenous Mangyanen tribe. They live in seclusion in traditional, for us in an archaic-seeming manner from subsistence farming or as unskilled laborers on farms.

During the previous decades, they have been increasingly displaced from the fertile costal region into remote mountainous regions and neglected by the Philippine health system. In the past, the island has often been devastated by typhons, whereby houses were destroyed, and entire harvests laid to waste. Many people are indigent.

With the Rolling Clinic in remote mountain villages

The German Doctors‘ visits with the rolling clinic are the only possibilities many people have to be treated by a doctor. Many patients have been coming to consultations regularly for years, even when they have to walk for several hours to get there. We have also been training health personnel in basic medial treatment of people living in remote areas to ensure a long-term improvement in healthcare. 114 women have already successfully completed their training.

Project start: 2002

Number of doctors: there are generally two German Doctors on site who are regularly supported by a dentist.

Missions: 557 volunteer missions since the beginning of the project

Patient contacts: approximately 12,000 treatments annually

Partner: the local organization,  ̔The Committee of German Doctors for Developing Countries Inc.,’ is one of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) officially registered in the Philippines. We also work together with the partner organization  ̔IDEALS‘ to enable the Mangyans to get a birth certificate. The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) supports our project cooperation with IDEALS.

Structure: The rolling clinic has a north and a south route. The north route begins from the doctors’ house in Victoria; the south route begins in Mansalay, where the Half-Way-Home is located. Pregnant Mangyan women who will soon deliver can stay here. Shortly before the birth, they are referred to a hospital for delivery.

Mission sites: the costal and mountainous regions on the island of Mindoro, which lies offshore of Manila

Commonest health problems: infectious diseases, bronchitis, skin diseases, hyertension, tuberculosis, undernourishment, parasites, and worms

38 remote villages

The team is currently travelling on a north and a south route with the rolling clinic. A tour lasts up to ten days, whereby a total of 38 sites are visited. Aside from the German Doctor, a local translator, a pharmaceutical assistant, and the driver are in the cross-country vehicle.  

The mobile clinic is especially challenging for the team during the rainy and typhoon seasons, when the roads are flooded and even our Ford Ranger has difficulty reaching the rolling-clinic sites.

Training health personnel

The first health workers were trained in 2020. These are women from the villages who take over basic medical care of about 20 families after completing their training. This provides the population with a great opportunity to take over their medical provision themselves and sustainably improve their health situation. During their 33-day training, the volunteer health workers learn how to treat patients with simple complaints and when they need to turn to a local or German doctor for advice. After completing their training, they receive a health kit containing a device to measure blood pressure, initial medicaments, and dressings. The health workers can then apply their acquired knowledge during the rolling clinics.

Birth certificates for the Mangyan tribe

Around 1.3 million people live on the Mindoro island in the western part of the Philippines. An estimated 275,000 of them are Mangyans.  ̔Mangyan’ is the collective term for a total of eight indigenous communities living on the island. Most of them live below the poverty level in remote areas in the mountains. Before our project began, more than half of them had no birth certificate.

This presents a big problem, as a birth certificate is required for access to the state health and school systems. Due to their poverty, the Mangyans are entitled to free healthcare provision, but they cannot get it without the required documents. They cannot afford treatment by private doctors.

Establishing low-threshold access to services

Even when many people are aware of the importance of a birth certificate, it is not easy for them to apply for registration. The closest city is a long distance away by foot or an expensive bus trip. Many can neither read nor write and fear the discrimination that they experience.

We founded a project together with the local partner organization IDEALS Inc. to provide Mangyans with low-threshold access to a birth certificate. They are offered a mobile registration provided by our colleagues, who have been trained in the legal aspects. Twenty-eight volunteers from the Mangyan community will be trained  to support their villages with the registrations.

A comprehensive information campaign will also be carried out to inform people about the possibility of registration and its advantages. We can thereby support 25,000 Mangyans in getting birth certificates so they can take advantage of state-supported services.

Neglected tribal people: Mangyans on Mindoro

The Rolling Clinic tours enable our German Doctors to get close to the people on Mindoro. They primarily care for the indigenous people on the island, the Mangyans.  Mangyan is the collective term for eight indigenous tribes (Alangan, Iraya, Tadyawan, Tau-Buid, Buhid, Hanunuo, Ratagnon und Bangon). They have been increasingly displaced by so-called lowlanders, Philippi­ne immigrants, and are treated like second-class citizens.  They are also neglected by the Philippine healthcare system.

The lifestyle in Magyan villages seems archaic to us. They inhabit simple bamboo huts without electricity or drinking water and have problems with hygiene, as there are no toilets. Many Magyans are illiterate.

The Magyans have a close relationship with the nature in and from which they live, and sometimes we have to find the right way between their understanding of medicine and ours. The external impression of simplicity can often be deceptive.