Happy belated birthday America! I can imagine the smell of charcoal with
sausages and burgers over the grill. I
finally tried a burger here in Manila, but sadly, it just isn’t the same. It definitely makes me miss home.
As I celebrate this American holiday in a country thousands
of miles away, it reminds me of the values and words written in the Declaration
of Independence and the Constitution…the foundation on which America is based. Similarly, I’m reminded of the words of
another Constitution that are written on the wall outside of my school:
“The
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health
is one of the
fundamental rights of every human being”
Written in many different languages on the wall, the most well-known
line in the WHO Constitution highlights the fundamental necessity of equity in
health…the foundation of my desire to work in healthcare. These words reveal that the distribution of
services is equally as important as its provision. Based on my research, I’ve learned that too
little attention that is paid to equity and often the most vulnerable groups
are overlooked in priority-setting research, especially women. Mental health problems, cancer, and obviously
reproductive health conditions manifest so differently in women; however, too
many organizations become too preoccupied with providing access without taking
into account the mix of services being offered.
Forget about the biological aspect for a second – access to income and
resources, status level, behavioral norms all affect women’s health, yet there
is too little disaggregation of data by gender in health research. And do you know what the scariest part
is? This type of research could ultimately wind up CONTRIBUTING to gender disparities.
To be honest, I don’t know how much I would have taken this
dimension into account had it not been for the funding provided by the WAPPP. But now, I have a chance to make my research
matter more for groups that need the most help, and I’m really thankful for
that perspective. Looking back on the
words of the WHO Constitution written on the wall of my school, it would
usually be difficult to pinpoint any word or few words that are more important
than the others. Words like “enjoyment,”
“highest attainable,” and “fundamental” could spark conversations that could go
on for hours (and trust me…I’ve been in far too many of them in my classes). But for this project…this summer, the
important words are all too clear to me: “every human being.”
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