Several students from the Global Health Department attended the 29th Pan American Sanitary Conference, which took place September 25-29 in Washington, D.C. Organized by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the conference meets every five years to assess physical and mental health in the Western Hemisphere and set policy goals. Leaders and stakeholders meet to exchange ideas and information regarding prevention, treatment, disease eradication, sociomedical measures, facility development and more.
GWSPH students attended the conference thanks to Global Health Professor Carlos Santos-Burgoa, who led a prep session prior to the event so students could better understand the history of the conference and the topics that would be on the agenda.
Nilakshi Biswas, MPH candidate in Global Health Policy, was one of the lucky students to attend. She said her biggest takeaway was the close relationship between class lectures and the conference debate around issues on the regional and global levels. “My experience at the conference was an immediate reflection of what I am studying and where I one day hope to work,” Biswas said. She hopes to use her global health policy degree to work for an intergovernmental agency someday. Biswas has a strong interest in human health resources and non-communicable disease elimination, both of which were subjects of conversation at the conference.
Another student in attendance was Theandra Madu, MPH candidate in Global Health, Epidemiology and Disease Control. She said she was struck by the level of professionalism that is needed to facilitate high-level meetings as well as the collaboration that is necessary to pass resolutions. During one particular session she was able to watch the passing of a resolution that is an integral part of the organization's five-year goals. Madu also enjoyed the global experience of the conference, and in one session was able to take a virtual tour of a hospital in Costa Rica.
Madu, who hopes to be a medical epidemiologist with a focus on surveillance of infectious diseases on a global scale, said the experience was directly related to her studies at GWSPH. “The terminology, policies and concepts that are the backbone of our MPH curriculum will too be significant throughout all careers in public health,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sarah Martinez, an MPH candidate in Global Health Epidemiology and Disease Control, was extremely impressed by the policymaking outcomes at the conference. “PAHO is the oldest multinational health organization, established in 1902, and to see the nations meet and collaborate toward common goals, like emergency preparedness and sustainability, LGBT health equity, vaccine coverage, human rights, ethnicity and health, and the effect of violence on health, to name a few, was really inspiring,” Martinez said. She said this conference gave her a view of how public health research and programs are affecting policy outcomes for member states.
The PAHO conference is just one of the many professional development opportunities that GWSPH students can take advantage of in the nation’s capital.