Vinluan, K. C. J. (2014). Strengthening the local health board through application of best practices toards better health outcomes in Tubajon, Dinagat Islands (Unpublished master's thesis). Graduate School of Public and Development Management, Development Academy of the Philippines.

Graduate School of Public and Development Management. Health Systems and Development. Batch 4 Thesis (MPM-HSD)--Development Academy of the Philippines.

The municipality of Tubajon has been unable to establish a functional local health board which should have been a venue for discussions on health issues such as improving implementation of health programs, increasing health budget and hiring of additional healthcare workers and giving them better working conditions. The main objective of the paper is to improve the health outcomes after establishing a functional and strengthened local health board. The study used a descriptive type of research. Policy and document analysis were done to establish the functionally of Tubajon was then reactivated. To strengthen the performance, a search for functional local health board according to the implementing rules and regulations of the Local Government Code of 1991. To ascertain the functionality of the established local health boards of the different municipalities, indicators for functionality were then verified using the Local Governance Performance System. Identified local health boards which were able to follow the mandate of the Local Government Code and assessed wherein practices per different building block were listed. The practices listed were rated according to its impact, 1 as the lowest and 5 as the highest. The practices which got the highest scores were then considered as best practices and those assessed to be applicable and appropriate for the needs in Tubajon were adopted. The three best practices selected which were the creation of mission and vision as a group, involvement of the barangay representatives on the local health board and the presence of local chief executive on all the meetings. The application of best practices and own initiatives of the local health board of Tubajon have led into effective discussions of health problems, better implementation on national health programs on Tuberculosis, Maternal and Child care which have resulted into increased case detection rate for tuberculosis, increased facility-based delivery and decreased in number of severely malnourished children. Also the strengthened local health board have resulted into an increase health budget for 2015 to 6.7% of IRA from last year;s of IRA, budget appropriation for specific health programs: NTP, Reproductive Health, Maternal and Child Health, creation of a plantilla item for medical technologist and the giving of 10% hazard pay to the health workers. The study has shown that a performing and effective local health board can result into better implementation of health programs, improve service delivery and increased health budget which could ultimately result into better health outcomes.