Public Health

- an Unexplored Career option

Dr Tanmay Bagade

(BAMS, MS (Stree rog and Prasuti), MPH, MHM, Prince2 Practitioner)

Consultant Obstetrician, MCH Initiative

World Health Organization CC

Australia

We are the victims of ‘Herd Mentality’

imposed on us by the society

“Uddharet aatmana aatmaanam naaatmaanam awasadayet”

Bhagwad Geeta 6.5

‘We have to work towards uplifting ourselves using our strengths,

rather than degrading ourselves by criticising the world’

After BAMS??

• Post Graduation (many times in subjects which

we get, not what we choose)

• Teaching job

• Modern Clinical practice & Surgery –

thousands of hurdles, restrictions, confusion in

laws??

• Ayurvedic Practice – Has more waiting period

than modern practice, so Needs Patience and

community which accepts ayurved.

Clinical Practice

Public Health

What is Public Health?

• WHO defines:

• All organized measures

– public or private

– to prevent disease,

– promote health,

– prolong life

– among population as a whole.

• Activities aim to provide conditions in which people can be healthy and focus on entire populations, not on individual patients or diseases

History of Public Health

• Charak Samhita – Introduced ‘Janpadodhwansa’ concept and several other philosophies related to public health

• Organized public health programs were introduced during world wars, mainly to reduce the epidemics

• Now, each country has a separate public health program guided by the UN and the individual government and then implemented by several stakeholders like NGOs, Private and Government institutions, Media, Army, etc.

Activities which we know

• Government Health policies

• ‘Pulse polio’ Program and other vaccinations

• National TB, Malaria, HIV programs

• Leprosy campaign

• School health

• College Health

• Motor vehicle safety laws

• Safe motherhood program

• National family planning program

• ORS program

• Millennium Development goals (MDGs) – till

2015

• Sustainable development goals (SDGs) –

beyond 2015

Most successful public health initiatives

• Small pox eradicated

• Zero Polio cases since last year

• Reduction in Malaria, Leprosy, AIDS and Tb

cases

• Drastic reduction in Deaths due to

communicable diseases all over world

• Family planning coverage

• Control of Ebola and Zika

Public Health Vs Clinical practice

Public Health as a Career

• Government sector – Government jobs

• NGOs – Most of the NGOs around the world need public health specialist

• Teaching

• Research - PhDs, Post Doc, Fellowships, Demographic research, Epidemiology, Statistics

• Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Some International Organizations which

constantly need public health workers• UN – has own organizations which work for public health

(WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, WFP, FAO, UNECOSOC, UNDP, UNV)

• Mellinda-Gates foundation

• World Bank

• Clinton Initiative

• Save the children

• CARE

• Oxfam

• GAVI

• IRC

• Medicine Sans Frontiers

• Medicine du Monde

Benefits – Sky is the limit

• Happiness and satisfaction

• A positive Change in yourself

• Working for global issues

• Beyond monotonic life

• We get to know different cultures

• Monetary benefits: Good Salary, Pension plans, medical insurance, Car, Housing allowance, travel etc. etc…

• You are going to make a sick nation healthier for the future generations…isn’t this motivating enough?

“Sukharthaha sarwabhutaanaam, mataha

sarwaha prawruttaya|

Dnyanam-adnyanam visheshastu, Maarg-amarga

pravruttayaha|| “

Charak

• Every person seeks happiness. According to his knowledge and understanding of his concepts of happiness, he chooses the right or the wrong path to achieve it.

• Charak’s Philosophy and concepts about happiness is beyond doubt applicable to everyone of us.

What qualities as a person do you need?

• Compassion

• Passion

• Dedication

• NO EGO allowed

• Patience

Luck and Hard Work

• Charak’s concept again—

• If you are lucky, you don’t need hard work to

succeed; but

• If you work hard, the luck eventually turns into

your favor

What other qualities are needed?

• Excellent organization skills

• Communication skills

• Leadership and management skills

• IT skills

• Good teamwork skills

• Problem solving skills

• Decision making skills

• Financial knowledge

• Project management

• Innovativeness

Qualifications needed

• Bachelor’s degree

• Masters in Public Health from a reputed

university – no online or distance learning

courses.

• Short Project management courses – organized

by government

Where to start?

• Be knowledgeable

• Have an aim in life that leads to your

happiness

• Set goals – short term and long term and start

working towards that goals

• Change your negativity, do self analysis.

Public health needs people who are selfless

and passionate to change the world we live in.

Get experience

• Part time Volunteering at NGOs during your

graduation, post-grad

• Get documented proof of whatever you do,

each experience counts

• Establish your own network of self-less people

who inspire you, motivate you.

• Improve social skills and understand global

issues without any bias of religion, caste,

country, color, sex, region and language…

Where to work?

• Be ready to work anywhere in the world

• Most public health jobs are in Low-Middle

Income countries, but after certain experience,

you can get opportunities in developed

countries, but which are office based.

Work profiles

• Doctor (medical officer)

• Project/Program

manager

• Trainer

• Fundraising manager

• Public health specialist

• Capacity building

specialist

• Consultant

• Policy

• Team leader

• Epidemiologist

• Environmental health

officer

• Statistician

• Researcher

• Health promotion

officer

How to apply?

• Online applications are accepted by all

National and international agencies

• Jobs are posted on several websites

• Start applying only when you have deep

knowledge about the job description and

enough experience.

• CSR (Corporate social responsibility) – refer

to websites of major corporate companies

• Government jobs

Snapshots of what I did

Work

• Successful Private clinical practice till 2009-10

• IT firm

• Own NGO

• Worked with several NGOs as volunteer or

paid employee – Red Cross, French

Government, THET, WAHA, UNICEF, WHO,

DFAT (AusAid), Universities in Australia

• Maternal and Child Health Initiative of WHO

• Funded by Australian Government to help

reduce MMR and NMR in south pacific

countries

• Flexibility to do whatever I can to help.

• Clinical practice

• Clinical governance

• Capacity building

• WHO-Government partnership

Tasks other than clinical practice• Work together with other NGO’s, give them

suggestions

• Improve referral pathways of referral hospital and health centers, aid posts, etc.

• Opening functional health centers or re-establishing closed health centers

• Train Local doctors in emergency obstetric surgeries

• Train nurses, midwives in EmONC (Emergency Obstetrics and Neonatology course)

• Establishing Midwifery school

• Establishing Family support center to care for and reduce Gender based violence cases

• Several other tasks

Perinatal death Rate over the years at St Mary’s Hospital, PNG

37.96 38.92

26

33.84

21.51

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015(till

June)

PNDR

PNDR

M

C

H

I

M

C

H

I

M

C

H

I

FSB-MSB-ND rates per 1000 in 2012 &2015 (till June)

18.38

10.39

14.77

6.685.77

4.45

0.00

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

18.00

20.00

2012 2015(till June)

MSB Rate

FSB Rate

ND rate

PNDR in 2012 = 38.92, in 2015 = 21.51 per 1000 live births

One of the referral hospitals

where I worked

Working with inspiring people

Dr Edna Adan Ismail

Nurses graduated from UNFPA program

Learning skills which I never could

Multiple roles

Traditional healers and birth attendants

Making Multinational friends who are more

dedicated than me

On my way to rural visits

Sustainable agriculture project site Visit

Fun during School health

Teaching

simple

hygiene can

save lives

Community Volunteers and HC staff from Gelagela and

SMH team who helped setting up the Labour ward

Source: PNG LOOP

Mixed team

Winning small prize for best project designs

Driving to health centers on islands

Seeing the beauty of nature

My wife-IT volunteering

I talk too much

Thank you