Filipinos Are Done With a Healthcare System That Was Never Built for Them

The Filipino relationship with health has always been complicated. Not because we don’t care, but because the system made caring feel impossible. Crowded hospitals. Long queues. Physicians stretched thin across a country of 115 million. The math was never in our favor. So we adapted. We pushed symptoms aside. We told ourselves we’d get checked “next month.” We watched parents and siblings go from fine to not fine fast because the warning signs went unaddressed for too long.

That adaptation has a cost. And the next generation is refusing to pay it.

A Different Kind of Health Platform

&you is a telehealth platform built for exactly this moment. Founded by Danish entrepreneur Emil Eriksen and backed by 40 leaders across medicine, technology, and business, &you was designed to address the health concerns Filipinos deal with most but talk about least: weight management, hair loss, sexual health, and mental wellness.

The response was immediate. When &you launched in 2025, 10,000 people signed up within days, a sign that the need had always been there, waiting for the right platform.

“Taboo survives where systems feel judgmental,” says Eriksen. “We remove that by designing care that feels private, normal, and supportive.”

Weight Loss Without Shame

Here is what most people do not say out loud: weight loss is hard, the old advice is tired, and for a lot of Filipinos, the options available have not kept up with the science.

&you is changing that.

One of its core offerings is a doctor-supervised weight management program that includes access to semaglutide, the GLP-1 receptor agonist that works by mimicking a hormone that regulates blood sugar and appetite. The medication has reshaped conversations around weight loss globally. In the Philippines, access has historically been limited, expensive, hard to find. With &you, there are no waiting rooms, no judgment, no dead ends.

“Technology should elevate standards, not dilute them,” Eriksen says. “Every consultation happens with licensed physicians, supported by systems that improve consistency. Speed never comes at the cost of responsibility.”

Safer Than the Alternatives

This part matters. Proper care shouldn’t require navigating the internet for shortcuts. &you makes it easy to take the doctor-guided route with medications and supplements that meet strict standards for safety, efficacy, and consistency. The goal is not just weight loss; it is weight loss that does not put you in a worse shape than where you started.

Obesity is a modifiable risk factor for heart disease and diabetes, two of the leading causes of death in the Philippines. Addressing weight is not a vanity project; it is preventive care, the kind the public health system rarely has the bandwidth to deliver proactively but &you does.

What Comes Next

An AI-driven telehealth engine designed to improve how consultations are conducted and how treatment plans evolve over time is in development. Beyond digital, &you is expanding into retail, in-person care, and real-world experiences that make the brand part of everyday Filipino life.

The vision is a healthcare experience that meets people where they are, not the other way around.

“With &you, we want every Filipino to have access to the kind of care that was once reserved for those with the time, money, and connections to seek it out,” Eriksen says. “Proactive. Affordable. Genuinely designed around how life here actually works.”

The system was not built for us. &you was.

Visit andyou.ph to find out more or to start your program today.

DISCLAIMER: &you is a digital health platform that facilitates access to healthcare services through licensed healthcare professionals. &you is not a licensed healthcare facility, hospital, or pharmacy.