Alarming and disturbing. This could encapsulate our present situation not only in the Philippines but worldwide. Why? Definitely because of the new pandemic Corona Virus 2019 (COVID-19). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Corona Virus Disease is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. It is a kind of virus that will lead a person from a mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Most of the victims who are more likely to develop serious illness based on the recorded statistics are those older people with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer. This virus is easily transmitted through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes. With no specific study on how it emerges and its cure, many of us are bounded with fear and confusion. What are we going to do? What will happen to us? Are we going to die? These are some of the questions that play in our mind.
Thinking about this, we can say that health is something that is very significant to us. It is a state of being that we give care in order to be more productive in our everyday life. One of our common saying is that, “Health is wealth.” Truly, health is one of the primary treasures that we should give attention to. At present, approximately, there are 13, 000 kinds of diseases we have all over the world. In the record of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the last 20 years, at least 30 new diseases have emerged. In one of the interviews with Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, previous Director-General of WHO, he said that “We are standing on the brink of a global crisis in infectious diseases. No country is safe from them. No country can any longer afford to ignore their threat.” This means that one of the negative effects of modernity is the crisis on health of an individual particularly on physical and mental health. What should we do? In response to this kind of trend we cannot fully solve the problem. instead we can walk with the problem and somehow make a move to lessen and avoid some of them.
The pandemic COVID-19 is just a waking up call for each one of us. Some would say that this is a punishment to humanity. Some conclude that this is a fruit of abuses on nature. Some would tell us that COVID-19 is a fabricated weapon of one country against another country until it spread in the different parts of the world. But with these different insights and comments, we don’t know. What is clear for now is that this pandemic disease is teaching us something. Something that is connected to our health. What is this something? It could be like going back to the basic. We cannot deny that due to the innovative minds of individuals our life has become easier in terms of manufacturing, telecommunication, food processing, even health and etc. However, we are now challenged to go back on the basic thing that we practice which is more beneficial in terms of the health care system. Here in Silsilah Dialogue Movement, a Non-Government Organization located in the city of Zamboanga, Mindanao, Philippines we provide simple but beneficial response to the different realities in health care system in the country. We are trying to provide a more traditional and basic way of developing a “home-based pharmacy” through the Center for Holistic Health Care (CHHC). It is our way of helping and educating some interested individuals to use the organic and herbal medicines available around as food and supplement for our body. This kind of move is a way not to solve the problem on a particular epidemic or pandemic disease but a way of going back to the natural and holistic way of caring for our health.
By going back to the basic we can see how the common plants available in hour homes could be a remedy to a particular and common illness we are experiencing. By going back to the basic we can see how a ray of sunlight is important to the plants and to us. By going back to the basic we can rediscover how plants grow naturally to provide only not food or ornaments for us but more so of giving clean air for our clean breathing. By going back to basic we can appreciate walking. By going back to the basic we can be amazed how relationships and physical connections within the family can help in our mental health. In the article, Corruption in Global Health Care May Exceed $1 TRILLION (source: https://www.greenmedinfo.com/) they said that “modern medicine still leaves an awful lot to be desired, and the corruption permeating the whole system is one of the primary reasons why it delivers such abysmal results.” Additionally, for them, “many medical procedures and treatments are unnecessary. Over testing and over treatment are part of the problem and corruption plays a role here as well. Instead of dissuading patients from unnecessary or questionable interventions, the system rewards waste and incentivizes disease over health.” This is one effect of being too much hinged on modern medicine without control and limits. In the article, they emphasized the importance of resources available in addressing the health issue including our own common sense and reason. “Since it is well established that most drugs do absolutely nothing to treat the cause of disease, it would be prudent to exercise the precautionary principle when evaluating a new drug claim, as it is likely to be flawed, biased or worse. It would be in your best interest to also identify a qualified natural health consultant, someone who really understands health at a foundational level, to make sure you’re addressing the root of your problem.”
Ross Erwin A. Layugan