20 international Conference on Health Promot ion in 2000, t·he UN Secretary General pointed out that "many o. f the major detenninnnt·s of hetter health lie ot1tside Lhe health s ·stem. K. nowledp,c made available · to people. Clr~an envin)nmcnts. Access to bask ser·vices. Fair societies. Fulllllcd ·1,um;in rights. Gond government. £nnbling people to make decisions relevnnt to thci1· lives, and t<> net on I hem" (Pro. ceedings of the 5th Jnterm. tlional Conference on Health Promotion, 2000). In 2005, the Hangknk Charter for Health J>rnmotion identified "critical factors" that now influence henlth 1111d these ::ire: increasing ineqt Lalilies within,rnd between countries, new pntterns of consumption and communicati on, commercialization, global environmental thnnge nnd urbanization. The other faclors lhat influence health idenlifh,,<l bv the Charter arc rnpid nnd often,,tlverse social, econon1ic,111d demographic changes lh~t affect t]Je worldng conclitio us. learning envirnnmenls, family patterns, and the ct1lture andsoci Hl fal;ric of communities. · Poverty and health Povertv is an inclic:1tion of the continuing sodal injustice and foilw·e of a country's develop,;;ent efforts. It is a multidim ensional 1. :011stnicl Llmt goes beyond income measurements. The United Nntions(UN) Human Development Index (HDI) summarizes a composite index of life e.-..--pectaacy,.,clull lilerac~, rate, combined primary, seeon<lm,> a. nd tertiary gross enrollment. rnt. io and gross domestic product (GDP), among olhers (MTPDP 2004-2010). The Philippines is the 90'" among the 177 countries ranked by the United ~ations Development Progrnm in terms ofht1man developruenl (Philippine Star, 2/28/08). The po\'crl. y incidence in the country was estimated at 3496 in 2000, up from 33% in 1997 (MTPDP 2004-2010). More than half of the total i11come flows to the richest 20% of the population (MTPDP 1993-1998). Accordi1 1g to the Social Weather Station (SWS), almost 16 of every 100 survey respondents claimed to have experienced involuntary hunger because they bad nothing to eat in early 2008 (Mangahas, 2008). The pour have poor health hecause they do not have the rcsou1·ccs to afford the bnsic requisites of health; they are not covered by health insurance; and they do not have the capacity to effectively transnct or negotiate,vit11 the health cam system which seems to be mo1·e res1)ortsive to the needs of those witb the necessirny financial resource s. Poverty, however, is a not a complete explmintion for poor health. The poor are not a homogeneous group. Marti and Henry point out that poverty is the only characteri stic that the poor share for their cultural orientatio ns, values, beliefs, practices and need'< vary greally (199t: 523). Culture and health Cul111re is, broadly spe;iking, a wayoflife; it is the tota Uty of who we are as a people. 1l is stable, which means that it endures over time and is passed on from one generation to t J1e Jlext. As such, it is obviously ru. 1 impo1-tm1t innuence on people·s health. Culture includes many things such as beliefs, values and customs 01· practices-how we socialize or internet with others, how we relax and spend our free time, the food tliat we eat or dn not eat. how we p·reparl! our food, how we treat,md r. 1re few pregnant women, how we deliver babies and take care of newborns, how we cope with our problems, l1ow and when we seek help, among many others. Culture has positive effects on health. An example is the value t11at we Filipinos place on close family ties and social relationships. Families, relatives and friends are a m;-ijor source of financial, emotional, instl'Ufllental,mcl social support, espccia Uy during crisis 