After 2 years of having the Asia Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH) annual conference online, this year, the annual conference was held face-to-face from 20th to 23rd September 2022 at the Manila Marriott Hotel, Philippines.
The pre-conference programme consisted of workshops on different topics such as:
- Workshop for Health Law and Ethics
- Getting Your Paper Published
- Empowering Early Career Public Health Professionals in Developing 21st Century Skills
- Hospital Management Perspective: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic
As the organiser, The College of Public Health, University of the Philippines Manila (UPM-CPH) is the very first public health institution in the Philippines which was established in 1927.
In its 95 years of illustrious history, the UPM-CPH has been recognized as the Regional Centre for Public Health, Hospital Administration, Environmental and Occupational Health of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization – Tropical Medicine and Public Health Network (SEAMEO TROPMED).
The UPM-CPH maintains its position as a trailblazer in public health teaching, translational research, and community health development, and a partner in championing the causes of the Department of Health.
As one of the most influential international organisations in Public Health, APACPH helps create an environment of mutually rewarding scientific research and collaboration that promotes advances in public health through its annual conference. The importance of the conference was underscored as Higher education institutions (HEIs) play an important part towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The activities that HEIs actively contribute include: the conduct of translational researches influencing health policy and monitoring; shaping the educational landscape; and providing knowledge and skills development to inspire solutions to the unique social, environmental, economic and health challenges of our time.
HEIs are not only limited to its relevance in teaching and research, but are also important key players in mobilizing and fostering networks and partnerships between various agencies, from government and policymaking bodies, non-government and social organizations, industries, think tanks and entrepreneurs both at the local and international level.
The APACPH 2022 conference themed “Advancing the Role of Higher Education Institutions in Attaining the Health-Related Sustainable Development Goals” was a platform to provide an avenue to open up discussions regarding the opportunities and challenges in attaining health-related SDGs, fostering dialogues and discussions, encouraging sharing of information and resources, and promoting collaborative activities among stakeholders to discuss public health concerns and plans and strategies to support the achievement of SDGs for health. The conference sessions were open to both students and researchers in the public health sector.
We received abstracts representing countries of South Asia, South East Asia, East Asia, Australia and Africa. The Early Career Network (ECN) Photography Competition themed “Public Health Innovations Amid the Pandemic”, was held from 21st July 2022 until 5th September 2022 in order to highlight innovations in public health teaching, training, research, and public service to document the contributions of the academic public health community in mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The keynote address was delivered by Dr Maria Rosario Vergeire, the Officer-in-Charge, Department of Health, Philippines.
The speakers of the conference symposia included an eminent panel of public health specialists including Dr Shinjiro Nozaki, WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WHO-WPRO), Dr Pretchell Tolentiono, OCI-Director IV, Health Human Resource Development Bureau, Department of Health and many other international and local representatives that allow for interchange fruitful discussion for the betterment of the role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
During the span of four decades, APACPH has grown into one of the largest public health organizations in the region. APACPH 2022 was a truly unique forum, bringing together public health academics, leaders, and practitioners, laying out the concrete plan of action that can help HEIs to support the achievement of SDGs; fostering networks and collaborations across member institutions both locally and internationally; and information dissemination through a conference proceeding published in a scopus-indexed journal.
Photo Gallery
Pre-conference: APACPH Executive Council Meeting, General Assembly, Dean’s Meeting, and Workshops
APACPH 53rd Conference: Day 1 and 2
Lastly, the video below summarised the 53rd APACPH Conference in Manila, Philippines.
See you all in Kuching, Sarawak next year for the 54th APACPH Conference 2023!
