The Annual Public Policy Conference (APPC) is the main and culminating activity of the Development Policy Research Month (DPRM) celebration held every September. The 8th APPC will feature the theme “#CloseTheGap: Accelerate Post-pandemic Recovery through Social Justice” in a four-part webinar series.

This third webinar in the series will be on September 20, from 9:00 to 11:30 am, via Zoom. It will feature the topic “Public Health Services and Infrastructure”. Through esteemed local and international speakers, this session will answer the following questions:

• How can we protect our population, especially vulnerable groups (e.g., women, children, informal sectors, cultural minorities), during health shocks? How do we ensure they will not fall into poverty further because of limited financial protection? How do we incorporate social justice in the design/implementation of our social and health protection schemes?
• How can the poor segment of the population or those most at risk of infection or illnesses adhere to health protocols despite the physical and environmental challenges they are in?
• How do we address the broader social determinants of health, such as living, working, and learning conditions?
  
  

This event will be streamed live on the PIDS Facebook page (facebook.com/PIDS.PH) and the SERP-P Community page (facebook.com/SERPPH/).

#APPC2022CloseTheGap
#APPC2022AcceleratePostPandemicRecoveryThroughSocialJustice

PROGRAM

APPC Webinar 3: Public Health Services and Infrastructure (9:00 am to 11:30 am)

Presentation of the Speakers (9:15 am to 10:15 am)

Protecting the Women and Young People from the Broader Impact of COVID-19

• Dr. Leila Joudane
  Representative to the Philippines
  United Nations Population Fund

Maximizing Financing Opportunities of UHC in the Philippines

• Dr. Eduardo Banzon
  Principal Health Specialist
  Southeast Asia Department
  Asian Development Bank

The 4Ps of Health Financing: Living with Catastrophic Health Expenditure in the Philippines

• Dr. Vincen Gregory Yu
  Research Associate
  Development Studies Program
  Ateneo de Manila University

Panel Discussion (10:15 am to 11:00 am)
Hon. Alfredo Coro II
Municipal Mayor
Municipality of Del Carmen
Surigao Islands, Surigao del Norte

Ms. Ana Santos
Independent Journalist

Open Forum (11:00 am to 11:30 am)

Emcee and Moderator
Dr. Valerie Gilbert Ulep
Senior Research Fellow
Philippine Institute for Development Studies

PROFILES

Dr. Leila Joudane
Representative to the Philippines
United Nations Population Fund

Before her assignment in the Philippines, Dr. Leila Saiji Joudane was the Country Representative of UNFPA Iran for four years, where she pushed for the integration of protection and response to gender-based violence, investing in youth and women to harness the Demographic dividend through a life cycle approach, among others, in UNFPA Iran’s Country Program.

She also served as the UNFPA Assistant Country Representative in Tunisia for ten years. She led the country office's growth in partners and spearheaded developing the Arab region’s first comprehensive law on gender-based violence. In addition, Dr. Joudane led the resource mobilization process and positioned the mandate of UNFPA within the UN system and the national stakeholders.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Dr. Leila Joudane was the Deputy Director of the National Institute of Family and Population, Ministry of Health in Tunisia.

Dr. Leila Saiji Joudane is a medical doctor with a Master’s Degree in the Management of Quality of Care in Faculté de Médecine de Tunis, in Sousse, Tunisia.

Dr. Eduardo Banzon
Principal Health Specialist
Southeast Asia Department
Asian Development Bank

Dr. Eduardo P. Banzon (Dodo Banzon) is a Principal Health Specialist in the Southeast Asia Regional Department of the Asian Development Bank, and Honorary Visiting Associate Professor in the National University of Singapore Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. Before joining ADB in 2014, he was President and CEO of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, World Health Organization (WHO) regional adviser for health financing for the Eastern Mediterranean region and WHO health economist in Bangladesh, and World Bank senior health specialist in East Asia and the Pacific. He is a former faculty member of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Medicine and the Ateneo Graduate School of Business. 

Dr. Vincen Gregory Yu
Research Associate
Development Studies Program
Ateneo de Manila University

Dr. Vincen Gregory Yu is a physician and health researcher from Iloilo City, Philippines. He obtained his MD from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine under the Intarmed Program. Presently, he is Research Associate at the Ateneo de Manila University Development Studies Program, where his work has been situated at the intersection of public health and the social sciences. His research interests include the anthropology of health care; illicit drug use and drug policy; and the politics of health, infectious diseases, and vaccines. Beyond his research, Dr. Yu is also a published fictionist and poet, and was a longtime theatre critic for the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Hon. Alfredo Coro II
Municipal Mayor
Municipality of Del Carmen
Siargao Islands, Surigao del Norte

Hon. Alfredo Matugas Coro II served as the Municipal Mayor of Del Carmen in Siargao Islands for 9 years, 3 years as Vice Mayor and now back as Municipal Mayor. The transformation of the Municipality of Del Carmen and Siargao Islands with an environmentally balanced and community-based development approach has been recognized by various national and international organizations. He is a Father first and a Public Servant.

Ms. Ana Santos
Independent Journalist

Ana P. Santos is an independent journalist reporting on the intersections of female migrant labour, sexuality & sexual health rights, and gender justice. Her writing about culturally taboo topics such as sexual and reproductive health challenge damaging societal expectations about women’s roles and help bridge the gap between vulnerable women in Philippine society and legislators who draft policies that affect their right to work, their right to decide about their body, and their right to own their future.

As the first Filipino to be named as the Pulitzer Center’s 2014 Miel Fellow and with multiple grants from the Pulitzer Center, Ana has written about feminized migration where restrictive labor policies in the Middle East turn sprawling villas into prisons with chandeliers for foreign domestic workers; the divorce ban that traps thousands of Filipinos in abusive marriages; and skyrocketing teen pregnancy rates. Ana has won numerous awards for her expose on how zina laws in the Middle East criminalize unmarried sex and cause migrant women to be imprisoned along with their babies.

As a gender and sexuality rights advocate, Ana has opened narratives of female pleasure both as a human right and a standard for public health policy. Ana has a postgraduate degree in Gender (Sexuality) at the London School of Economics and Political as a 2020 Chevening scholar. Here, Ana brought her expertise to her study of intimacy, with a special focus on how its longing writes itself on desire, memory and longing.

Ana is a sought-after public speaker on women's sexual health rights and empowerment as well as migration. She has spoken in events in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

Dr. Valerie Gilbert Ulep
Senior Research Fellow
Philippine Institute for Development Studies

Dr. Valerie Gilbert Ulep is a Senior Research Fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS). He is currently the director of research projects on health and nutrition. He is also a Senior Researcher at the Ateneo School of Government. Prior to joining the PIDS, he worked at the World Bank in D.C and Delhi Offices. He was a doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Global Health Research, where he conducted economics studies on tobacco taxes. He provided technical assistance to the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, World Health Organization, Center for Global Development, and USAID. He received awards including Nikkei Asia and Emerging Voices for Global Health. He holds a Ph.D. in Health Economics from Canada, and a master’s degree in Epidemiology.

This webinar is organized by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, with support from the BSP Research Academy.