DOH conducts phone survey on Filipino health habits

MANILA, Philippines — Health officials have embarked on a mobile phone survey to look into the lifestyles of Filipinos in relation to non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said they want to understand how Filipinos keep themselves healthy and what habits make them vulnerable to developing NCDs such as heart ailments, stroke, cancer and hypertension.

“It is very important to participate in this DOH-sponsored phone survey as its results will help the Department of Health (DOH) come up with strategies and policies to address the problems,” Duque said yesterday.

An earlier report of the World Health Organization-Western Pacific Regional Office showed that a significant proportion of Filipino adults continue to be exposed to NCD risks of tobacco and alcohol use, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity.

Under the project, dubbed “NCD Mobile Phone Survey,” the DOH will send text messages to computer-generated mobile phone numbers. 

The questions involve topics such as a person’s tobacco and alcohol use, diet, blood pressure, diabetes and demographics. The survey is available in both Filipino and English. 

The DOH assured the respondents that the agency complies with the Data Privacy Act of 2012, which aims to protect the fundamental right of privacy of communication. 

It urged the public to participate in the survey and assured them that the personal information of the respondents or mobile subscribers would not be disclosed to third parties and non-identifying information will be secured.

“Responses will be voluntary, anonymous and confidential. Consent will be asked from all participants and personal information is removed before data is stored for analysis,” the DOH added.

The survey will run for a month or until the 3,000 targeted participants are achieved.