Self-Organizing System of Budgetary Allocation for Food Borne Diseases in the Philippines

Abstract

The food system is one of the complex systems that require a theoretic perspective. The core objective of the study was to identify an emergent feature described by the variables: total foodborne diseases, and health care expenditure in the 16 regions of the Philippines. This study employed the descriptive-analytic research, utilized data mining, factor analysis, cluster analysis, and complex adaptive systems. Factor analysis results revealed that the factor or feature outlines a foodborne disease allocation. Two clusters were generated using cluster analysis. The first cluster comprised regions with foodborne diseases ranging from 212-890 incidences, and the second cluster contained regions with 1338 to 4770 foodborne disease cases. National Capital Region (NCR), MIMAROPA, Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and 11 belonged to the cluster with lower incidences of foodborne diseases. These regions also had high positive synergy. Results also revealed that Regions 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, CAR, and CARAGA had higher foodborne disease cases which correspondingly showed extensive distinctions among regions. The emerging pattern appeared to be random albeit cyclical in nature with no upward nor downward drift. This demonstrated an amplitude and slight upward drift as well. To sum, it was detected that there are two emergent patterns in budgetary allocation for foodborne diseases in the Philippines: those regions for which budgetary allocation for foodborne diseases were not based on actual incidences of the diseases, and those regions for which budgetary allocation were more sensitive to the incidence of foodborne diseases.