As a teaching, research, and public service university, UP Manila is faced with opportunities to help contribute to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that took over the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the new approach to development.
In her keynote speech at the recent College of Public Health Alumni Society (CPHAS) Annual Convention, UP Manila Chancellor Carmencita Padilla discussed current mechanisms and programs of the university that builds on the unfulfilled MDG targets and are expected to step up efforts to realize the SDGs.
Based on an online compilation, MDGWatch, by the Philippine Statistics Authority, of the eight MDG targets, the Philippines did well on #2 – achieving universal primary education, #3 – gender equality and women empowerment, #4 – infant mortality, and access to safe drinking water and sanitation under #7 – environmental sustainability. The other MDG targets where the Philippines did not fare as well were 1) eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; 5) improving maternal health; 6) combatting HIV/AIDS, malaria & other diseases; and 8) developing global partnerships for development.
The SDGs take over the unfinished agenda of the MDGs but also aim to address other significant public health challenges and recognize their interconnectedness. They include 17 goals and their associated 169 targets that were committed by the heads of states at the 2105 UN General Assembly held in September 2015.
Apart from covering the MDG targets, the SDG goals include additional targets on ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being; availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation; access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and clean energy; sustained and inclusive economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all; resilient infrastructure and inclusive and sustainable industrialization; reduced inequality within and among countries; safe, resilient, and sustainable cities and human settlements; and combating climate change and its impacts. Chancellor Padilla stated that as a teaching university, UP Manila’s recent shift to Outcome-based Education is hoped to carry out the desired learning outcomes expected of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, and other health professionals. This will lead to better health care delivery as they will apply their skills not only as clinicians but also as socially accountable leaders, team players, managers, and advocates.
She explained that in achieving Goal No. 3, Good Health and Well-being, the strategy for delivery of health care may need to be revisited. She quoted a proposal by Dr. Antonio Dans in a lecture he delivered at a forum of the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges to anchor health education and health delivery on primary care. This will entail a major reorientation of the way the health professionals are educated and nurtured. The roadmap to primary care has five milestones: recruitment, retraining, retention, regulation, and reassessment. This strategy is being eyed in the long-term as it would entail a major overhaul of the health education and delivery system.
The UPM chancellor also mentioned that the SDGs provide an opportunity for collaboration and partnerships in research. She said that the forthcoming construction of the a new, 15 story National Institutes of Health building inside the UPM campus will boost and strengthen collaboration in a wide range of health and socio-biomedical fields. Through the new NIH, it is envisioned that researchers will develop products that will enhance health care in the form of better diagnostic kits for early diagnosis of more common diseases like tuberculosis, leptospirosis, malaria, schistsosomiasis, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and many more.
“With genomics research available now in the country, we can design markers specific for Filipinos,” Padilla stated.
She shared some recent and ongoing research projects of UP Manila, such as a dengue diagnostic kit developed by the Biotek M team of Dr. Raul Destura with a better sensitivity of 86-92% and specificity of 100% but which is cheaper than the commercially available kit.
According to the human genetics specialist, the proposed creation of a Center for Health Equity (CHE) at the College of Public Health (CPH) will make UP Manila the leading voice in advocating for change and innovations in the Philippine health care system to achieve social inclusiveness. The CHE will focus on studies to reduce health inequities. She urged the CPH alumni to lead in offering major contributions to realizing the SDGs, saying that their departments, such as health promotion and education, nutrition, environmental and occupational health will be major critical players on the background of the SDGs.
In the same forum, outstanding alumni were honored. The Distinguished Alumna were Health Undersecretary for Policy and Health Systems Dr. Lilibeth David, Dr. Gerardo Bayugo for the Master of Public Health; and Mindanao Central Sanitarium Chief of Hospital Dr. Domingo Remus Dayrit for the Master of Hospital Administration. The Outstanding Alumna awardee was Sister Eloisa Lumanian David, a nurse, doctor, social apostolate and Chief Executive Officer, Kakak Foundation.
Cynthia M. Villamor | Published in UP Manila Newsletter July – August 2016
