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AIM: To review how nursing is engaged with genetics/genomics developments in the Philippines' healthcare system. BACKGROUND: There is an increasing demand for genetics services. However, the number of genetics professionals is lagging with this demand. Nurses play pivotal roles in mainstreaming genetics/genomics across healthcare settings. SOURCES OF EVIDENCE: Published and gray literature on genetics/genomics services in the Philippines and roles of nurses and the experiences of the authors. DISCUSSION: Nurses involved in genetics in the Philippines work in specialty genetics clinics and in newborn screening (NBS). Several issues hinder maximizing roles of nurses in genetics, such as the absence of competency standards, inadequate educational preparation, absence of a specialty organization, and increased workload of nurses. CONCLUSION: The engagement of nursing with genetics/genomics is limited. Increasing awareness on the impact of nursing in genetics/genomics, adopting competency standards, and curricular integration are key if nurses' roles in genetic healthcare are to be realized. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Introducing genetics/genomics systematically in practice environments is crucial. Tools such as the Method for Introducing New Competency Genomics can be used as a guide. Existing population-based genetics programs such as NBS and rare disease offer a good context to introduce genetics in existing courses in the curriculum. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING POLICY: Nursing leaders need to be aware and recognize the relationship between nursing and genetics/genomics. A local specialty group in genetics and collaboration with international organizations are crucial to advocate the inclusion of genetics/genomics in nursing. Existing genetics/genomics competency standards can be validated in the local context to inform curricular integration.

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The provision of culturally competent health care is an important professional issue recognized by the pioneer genetic counselors in the Philippines. Being an archipelago consisting of 7,107 islands, the Philippines has approximately 175 ethnolinguistic groups with their own unique cultural identity and health practices. The emphasis on culture in our genetic counseling training recognizes its crucial role in molding an individual's conceptualization of health, as well as other life aspects, especially since the Filipino culture is a mixture of indigenous as well as imported and borrowed elements. As part of this endeavor, we will describe in this paper seven common Filipino cultural beliefs: namamana, lihi, sumpa, gaba, pasma, namaligno, and kaloob ng Diyos. We will also share examples on how these common beliefs provide explanation as cause of illness and its implications in our genetic counseling profession.

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Congenital anomalies have been in the top ten causes of infant mortality in the Philippines for the past 50 years. Since there is no synthetic surveillance for the congenital anomalies in our country, there are no specific programs directed toward better understanding of this group of patients. The birth defects surveillance project was convinced in 008 to develop a system of reporting of newborns with birth defects at the hospital and community setting. The lead agencies for this project are the University of the Philippines Manila-National Institutes of Health and the department of Health (DOH). This paper describes the establishment of the Philippine Birth Defects Surveillance.

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