As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has affected the public health system at an unprecedented scale, exposing the need to strengthen surveillance and response worldwide. In keeping with its role as the SEAMEO TROPMED Regional Centre for Public Health, the UP College of Public Health (CPH) is partnering with the British Embassy Manila in various endeavors that contribute to health systems strengthening and capacity building.
Improving NCD programs amid COVID-19
The CPH participated in an academic roundtable with the UK-National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on Health Technology Assessment (HTA) last 30 July 2020 under the auspices of the British Embassy Manila’s Better Health Programme (BHP), in which CPH is the lead academic partner. The roundtable formed part of a broader series of learning workshops that UK-NICE and BHP will be conducting in partnership with the Department of Health HTA Unit and HTA Council. The forum provided insights on how NICE engages with academic institutions in the UK to help support evidence generation, technology appraisals, and decision-making.
No less than British Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce considered this multi-stakeholder collaboration program under the UK Prosperity Fund (PF) Better Health Programme as one of the “exciting UK-Philippine collaborations that support the COVID response.” He added that this collaboration on virtual knowledge-sharing and joint research with the Department of Health, CPH, and local governments will help build local capacity to respond to health emergencies alongside existing health needs in the country. The forthcoming collaboration entitled “Improving Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Program Management in an Environment with a Communicable Disease Pandemic (NeCOD)” will be implemented in partnership with the Pasig City Government. This project is expected to provide evidence-based data on improving health planning and decision-making processes in local government units.
Roundtable on COVID-19 with Malaysia and England
UP CPH, through Dean Vicente Y. Belizario, Jr., participated in a roundtable organized by the UK National Health Service (NHS) Joint Unit, a strategic partner of the UK BHP last May 28, 2020. Other participants were the Malaysian Ministry of Health (represented by Dr. Wan Noraini Wan Mohamed Noor, head of Surveillance Sector, Disease Control Division) and Public Health England (represented by Dr. Fu-Meng Khaw, Director of Programmes, Places and Regions). The event was moderated by Dr. Ryan Li, Senior Health Systems Adviser at the NHS Joint Unit. The roundtable was organized to discuss how the three countries endeavor to translate evidence into policy for implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Forthcoming webinar series on public health amid COVID-19
To further strengthen the health system response to COVID-19 and sustain ongoing health interventions, UP CPH and the British Embassy Manila through its Enabling Fund is organizing a webinar series entitled “Public Health in Time of COVID-19 and the New Normal: A Webinar Series for Public Health Workers”. The series aims to provide a venue for discussing public health program updates and challenges and good practices amid the current pandemic and beyond, in line with Universal Health Care. The project will focus on a number of topics on health programs, such as communicable and non-communicable diseases, environmental and occupational health, maternal and child health, and One Health. The series is expected to run from September 2020 to March 2021. Prospective attendees are enjoined to check the UP CPH website and social media channels for updates: cph.upm.edu.ph, fb.me/upcph, twitter.com/upcph.
Dr. Fernando B. Garcia Jr., Dr. Jaifred C. F. Lopez, Ms. Vianca Anglo
Published in Healthscape Special COVID-19 Issue No. 15
