For content creator Ayn Bernos, Miss Earth Philippines 2025 Joy Barcoma, and former Miss Universe Philippines MJ Lastimosa, participating in Because She Can: Preventive Health for a Thriving Future – A Women's Health Roundtable served as an opportunity to encourage more women to take charge of their health.
In an exclusive interview with PUSH ABS-CBN, Ayn, Joy and MJ spoke about the importance of using their platforms to share information, spark conversations, and encourage preventive healthcare among women.
For Ayn, one of the biggest takeaways from the event was realizing how much knowledge can empower people to make informed decisions about their health.
“It really taught me that we can do so many things on our platform and that everything I’ve learned here, I just tried to pay it forward as well and share it with my community, even my circle in real life. I’ve learned so much that it empowered me in so many ways,” Ayn said.
The content creator added that educating women about their bodies and health can help them feel more confident and in control of their future.
“To all the younger women out there, I hope you had fun exploring all the different ways you can advocate for yourself, your body, and your health, especially because ang dami nating options and at the same time, we really have the power to control our lives and influence where we go from here,” Ayn stated.
Like Ayn, Joy emphasized the importance of using her influence for meaningful causes.
“I just like being part of events like this because it helps me use my platform into a greater good and that’s been advocating for years now na to always use my platform, to always make use of the influence that you have and make use the power you have over other people,” she said.
“It's also important that we have people that can advocate for these things because we can encourage more people to be part of it.”
The event, MSD in the Philippines through its Guard Against HPV initiative, aims to encourage more open discussions on preventive healthcare, cervical cancer prevention, and overall wellness among women.
During the discussion, Joy also emphasized the importance of creating safe spaces where people can openly talk about their health.
“I try to normalize these conversations and create an environment where people do not feel ashamed or embarrassed to talk about their health. I want to be a safe space for others,” she shared.
“When we create safe spaces, conversations like these can thrive, and prevention becomes not something people fear or blame themselves for, but a healthy practice that we embrace.”
Meanwhile, MJ said the event gave her an opportunity to advocate not only for herself but also for the people she cares about.
“It’s very important in the sense that for the longest time I've only been advocating for myself quietly, silently. This time, I think the big leap that I took is to advocate naman for other people, to be an advocate for the closest people in my heart and to open conversations,” she told PUSH ABS-CBN.
MJ noted that conversations about health are still considered taboo by many, something she hopes to help change through initiatives like this.
“I feel like we've been scared or it's never normal to talk about health, sickness or diseases na napaguusapan na lang natin kapag may nagkasakit na and we talk briefly about it. We never talk about paano maiwasan yung mga sakit sakit. So, me accepting being an influence on this kind of advocacy, I really wanted to spread the word and spread awareness and to normalize these conversations as much as possible,” she continued.