CLARK FREEPORT ZONE, Pampanga — The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and University of the Philippines (UP) Manila expressed their full support in strengthening health research and development in the country.
CHEd chairperson Prospero de Vera III said that strengthening the research community is crucial in evidence-based policy-making and underscored the importance of research as he recalled the challenges during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic when data on the ground was scarce.
“In March 2020, the country closed its borders and restricted inter-local government unit travel as the pandemic moved too fast for comfort. As a member of Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, my most difficult problem during that time was making decisions that were not based on a lot of science data,” De Vera said.
As part of CHEd’s commitment, De Vera revealed the mobilization of higher education community in conducting a research on the impact of the pandemic on the learning outcomes and competencies of the students.