Chapter I INTRODUCTION

Ohana means family no one gets left behind, and no one is ever forgotten. This quote originally by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois had appeared and became famous in the movie Lilo and Stitch. Indeed, this is true with every Filipino family. Filipinos highly value the presence of their families as it remains the basic unit of the society in the Philippines. In a traditional Filipino family, the father is considered the head and the provider of the family while the mother takes responsibility of the domestic needs and in charge of the emotional growth and values formation of the children. They both perform different tasks and being remarked separately by the children. Children see their mothers soft and calm, while they regard their fathers as strong and the most eminent figure in the family (www.philippinecountry.com). The fast-growing population and the failure of household incomes to rise as fast as commodity prices have resulted in more poor Filipino families, according to the 2006 Official Poverty Statistics report released Wednesday by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB). The report said 4.7 million

families - equivalent to 26.9 percent of the total number of Filipino families - were poor in 2006, marking an increase from 4 million poor families in 2003. It also said that poverty incidence - the proportion of those considered poor to the total number of families - was at 26.9 percent in 2006, compared to 24.4 percent three years earlier. The NSCB said that in 2006, the average poverty line for a family of

five was determined to be at P6,274 a month. This meant that a family of five earning less than that amount was considered poor. It also said that a family of five could live on the minimum wage of P9,100 a month in 2006 without being poor (newsinfo.inquirer.net). In General Santos City, just about 3, 100 poor families live in poverty mostly due to lacking of health aspects; suffer from hunger, malnutrition and abject poverty. Thus, the health of each member of a family is resolved by physical, mental, social, political, and spiritual stability which are oftentimes controlled by the health status of the other members of the family (http://www.census.gov.ph/). In this family case study, the researcher had chosen Family P who live in Purok Balakayo, Barangay Olympog, General Santos City, South Cotabato. Upon observation and interview, the researcher noticed different health risks and health problems existing in the family which they may be aware or unaware of. The researcher was challenged to help the family acknowledge and identify actual and potential family problems especially those which can greatly affect each family members health. As practitioners of health, we share our knowledge to the community that we mingle with. It is our responsibility to cater to the families that need our help in terms of their health. We center ourselves to the goal of maintaining and

improving the health of the individuals in the community through providing health services (Pilliteri, 2003).

The researcher aimed to help Family P live and practice a healthy life despite financial insufficiency through health education, aid of different health agencies or organizations present in their locality, and through utilization of different health facilities, resources and/or services available for them.