Farewell!

My final day in Manila!  2 months ago I was enjoying my honeymoon on the white sands of Boracay and it’s hard to believe that I’ll be hopping on a flight back home tonight.  Yesterday, I presented in front of my colleagues here at the Western Pacific Regional Office about my research this past summer, and it went very well!  The director of the Health Sector Development group and head of the Essential Medicines & Technology team attended, and there was a very lively discussion afterwards regarding the WHO and its future direction regarding R&D priority-setting (my team also surprised me with a birthday / farewell cake!  There appears to be a lot of celebrations that involve cake in this office…ironic for the World HEALTH Organization, eh?).  I will be presenting again this afternoon to my team in Geneva via videoconference and am excited to share the work that I’ve done this summer.

As I reflect on my experience this past summer, I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with my team both in Manila and Geneva.  I hope that the work that I’ve completed is a step in the direction towards a healthier world, where diseases that affect some of the most vulnerable populations will someday soon have affordable solutions.  This experience was very valuable for my future career aspirations as well, and I am excited to see where my wife and I will end up next year after graduation.  Whether I end up in Manila, Geneva, the States, or who knows where, I am sure that the growth and experience from this past summer will help me along the way.

To the good people from the Women and Public Policy Program and the Cultural Bridge Fellowship, I would like to thank you again for your support and generosity.  My experience and the work I completed with the WHO would not have been possible without your help, and I am truly grateful.  I hope to meet some of you in the near future and share my research with you when I return to Boston. 

Signing off from Manila!

Sam

DOH Visit

This week I had a chance to visit some folks at the Philippines Department of Health, and I learned a great deal about all of the health-related action here in the Philippines.  I had the chance to speak with two people about both the reproductive health law and a new research priority-setting law.  I feel very fortunate to be in this country doing work related to many of these new exciting new changes!

First, I’ll talk about the issue that has all the attention here in the Philippines…the Reproductive Health Law.  As I spoke with a DOH staff member about the most recent news about the law, it was striking to see how similar it is to what is happening in the US regarding the Affordable Care Act.  Last year, the ACA was reviewed by the Supreme Court to determine the constitutionality of the law (it was passed).  Similarly, the Reproductive Health Law has hit a number of snags along the way and it is currently in the Philippines Supreme Court to determine if it is also constitutional.  Just like the ACA has divided much of the country over health care issues, the Reproductive Health Law has been a polarizing issue even within the DOH itself.  Had I worked at the DOH this summer, I would have likely worked on a supply chain project to evaluate how the government would deliver freely available contraceptives to its citizens.  Like many low to middle-income countries, last mile problems are all too common, but one could only imagine how much more difficult it is in the Philippines, a country composed of over 7,000 different islands!  Based on my conversation, I had the feeling that much like the ACA, there is still a ways to go before the law becomes effective.

I also had the chance to speak with someone who told me about the recent changes in health research priorities in the Philippines.  We had a very interesting conversation that helped inform my project, but what was most interesting was in regards to the creation of a National Health Research System.  This new system pools funds from various departments within the government to set and fund health research priorities in the Philippines.  Similarly, I was struck by how similar this is to the recent resolution that was passed at the World Health Assembly to hopefully use funds from different Member States to invest in R&D for neglected diseases.  The research I am conducting now will help determine how these funds will be invested.  Therefore, I am excited to hear more about how this new research initiative moves forward, as the WHO moves in a similar direction.

All in all, I had a great time at the DOH, and I am very thankful for chance to speak to the people who are closest to these new laws.  I have less than a week left here in the Philippines, and it is bittersweet to say the least.  My wife is leaving today, so it will be a boring weekend for me.  But it will give me time to prepare for my presentations early next week…wish me luck!

Office life...

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in Manila for 7 weeks now and that my time here is almost coming to an end.  I am leaving in about a week and a half, and I am not ready to go!  My wife and I have had such an amazing time spending our first couple months of marriage experiencing life in a new country and traveling.  We are so extremely grateful for this opportunity and actually spoke the other day about potentially returning after graduation if things work out.  My wife studied international development at the Kennedy School, and we would like to work in a developing country after I graduate.  So again, this experience has been invaluable for us.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, there are constantly conferences held at our office on a range of interesting topics.  From workshops on how to encourage smoke-free cities to expert panels on violence against women and children (which will unfortunately be held the week after I leave), there is always something going on here at the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office.  There is actually an interesting conference going on right now that I would like to attend; however, unfortunately, I am glued to my desk for the next week and a half, working on a final presentation that I will present to my colleagues here in the Western Pacific Regional Office and the rest of my team in Geneva (I did manage to sneak away for a few minutes to meet Conan O’Brien’s dad however, a Harvard professor attending the meeting).  The picture to the right is where I spend the large majority of my day.  The last time I spent this much time at a desk, I gained over 20 pounds!  So perhaps, it is a good that my internship is coming to an end soon :)

I do plan on venturing away from my desk next week to meet up with some folks at the Philippines Dept. of Health and am excited to hear about their work on the Reproductive Health Law, so stay tuned!  But for now, I am going to continue working on my presentation, and I look forward to sharing more about my work once I return to Boston.  Off to create more slides!