issues needing urgent attention. Another continuing issue from last year is women’s access to sexual and reproductive health services, especially concerns pertaining to maternal and neonatal health during a pandemic. Women medical frontliners Women are at the forefront of the battle against the pandemic as they make up almost 70% of the healthcare workforce, exposing them to greater risk of infection, while they are under-represented in leadership and decision making processes in the health care sector.21 In the Philippines, the health profession is dominated by women (75%) and the young. Even before the pandemic, the human resources for health already faced long standing issues related to low pay, high turnover rate of trained personnel, and out migration of the country’s experienced health professionals.22 This has been further highlighted in the pandemic.23 Last year, and more so this year medical frontliners have been calling out for support due to the burden of the pandemic on the health care system. As early as May last year, Alliance of Health Workers already urged the government to hire more health workers or the system will collapse.24 In August, health workers called for time out as hospitals were overwhelmed.25 In October, government was urged to prioritize the health sector in the 2021 budget 26 February of 2021, calls were made to ensure access to safe and effective vaccines by health workers. By 6 March of 2021, the Department of Health reports that there were already 14,963 infected with 89 deaths among health workers.27 Available data so far are not sex dissagregated. Despite, however, the importance of the work undertaken by health workers, and the risk they and their families face daily because of the virus, many have yet to receive their promised hazard pay. One woman nurse died without having received her hazard pay, and while many others threatened a strike to emphasize their point. February this year, health workers appealed to Congress for pay hikes as even with the increase in salary grades under Bayanihan laws, wages still fail to cover growing day-to-day expenses.28 This has been exacerbated by long delays in the release of hazard pays prompting health workers from different government hospitals to stage a sit down protest as Bayanihan 2 expires with many hazard pays remaining unpaid. 29 21 OECD. Women at the Core of the Fight Against COVID -19 pandemic. OECD. 20 April 2020. https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/women-at-the-core-of-the-fight-against-covid-19-crisis-553a8269/. (accessed 31 August 2021) 22 PIDS. Human Resource for Health in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Does the Philippines Have Enough?. PIDS. 18 August 2020. https://www.uppi.upd.edu.ph/research/covid-19/rb8 (accessed 31 August 2021) 23 Ibid. 24 Lalu G. Group urges government: Hire more health workers or our system will collapse. Inquirer.net. 7 May 2020. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1271664/group-appeals-to-govt-hire-more-health-workers-or-our-system-collapses (last accessed 31 August 2021) 25 V. Barcelo, J. Zurbano and M. Cruz: “Frontliners plead for ‘timeout,’” Manila Standard, 2 Aug. 2020. 26 Lalo. Health Workers urged congress to prioritize health in 2022 budget. 27 ANC.COVID-19 Special. ANC. 12 March 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FElLxyKHGDg 28 Lalo, Health Workers seeking pay hike say nothing has changed since pandemic started. Inquirer. Net. 16 February 2021. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1396226/health-workers-seeking-salary-hike-claim-nothing-changed-since-pandemicstarted#ixzz75CSQWoeV (accessed 31 August 2021) 29 Gonzalez,C. Health Workers demand unpaid benefits as Bayanihan 2 expires. Inquirer. Net. 30 June 2021.https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1453614/health-workers-protest-unpaid-benefits-as-bayanihan-2-expires (accessed 31 August 2021) 5