Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) and the Faculty of Public Health at Mahidol University jointly organized the Global Health Education Program (G-HEP) 2021-2022, program participants include students and young professionals from Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, and Bhutan.

The G-HEP is focused on, “solving health issues of urban migrants under the COVID-19 pandemic”, both in Japan and in Thailand, and this past week, June 27 – July 2 we were able to participate in the fieldwork trip in Bangkok, Thailand. After a year and a half of online lectures and research, participants from Japan and from Thailand were able to meet in person for the fieldwork program.

On the first day of the program, participants learned about health promotion and health research in Thailand. We visited the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) an autonomous government agency with a mission to inspire, motivate, coordinate, and empower individuals and organizations in all sectors for the enhancement of a healthy society and environment for all people living in Thailand. ThaiHealth is involved in conducting evidence-based research, public awareness, and advocacy for policy change.

Visit Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth)

Later we visited the International Health Policy Program (IHPP) part of the Bureau of Policy and Strategy under the Ministry of Public Health. Under the direction of Dr. Rapeepong Suphanchaimat, we spoke with his team of researchers conducting research on national health priorities with aims to improving the related to health systems and policy in Thailand.

The next day we travelled to the neighboring province, Samutsakorn, which is the 2nd province with a high concentration of migrant workers. We visited the provincial hospital and migrant clinic, where we learned about the health services provided in the facilities and activities conducted in the community through migrant health volunteers, in particular they also shared about their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exchange of views at provincial hospitals in Samut Sakhon province

We visited one of the migrant worker housing complexes where we spoke to some of the families from Myanmar about their experiences as a migrant in Thailand.

Interviewing migrant workers from Myanmar living in the housing complexes

The third day we went to the Mahidol University Salaya campus and heard from Associate Professor Dr. Sureeporn Punpuing with the Institute Population and Social Research. She shared about the ongoing research her team is conducting related to cross-border migrants and health service accessibility in Thailand. Later we went back to the Ministry of Public Health, this time to the Division of Health Economics and Health Security. We heard from Dr. Walunchai Juengsamranphong about the framework of Thailand’s Universal Health Care (UHC) and the various schemes and services available to migrant workers.

The final day of the program was a day of reflection and analysis of the situation in Thailand. Participants discussed the week of visits, shared their own personal reflection and among the group analyzed the situation using the PEST analysis giving an overview of the political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological factors.

We look forward to welcoming the participants to Tokyo, Japan for the fieldwork trip in August.

■ Program Lectures
1) Thailand’s Health System and COVID-19 (complete)
2) Japan’s Health System and COVID-19 (complete)
3) Community Health (complete)
4) Health Technology (complete)
5) Global Health (complete)
6) Migrant Health (complete)
7) Policy Recommendations and Advocacy (complete)
8) Quantitative and Qualitative Research (complete)

The Global Health Education Program (G-HEP) is a joint program organized by the Health and Global Policy Institute and Mahidol University, Faculty of Public Health in Thailand.

■About Mahidol University
Mahidol University is the number one university in Thailand for medical education and the first public health academic institution in Thailand.

Vision:
 Be a leader in promoting population health through being a health literate faculty in ASEAN countries by 2021.
Mission:
 1. To offer an outcome based public health education through being a health literate faculty.
 2. To be visible as a leader in public health education, integrative and innovative research, professional academic services on the basis of good governance to promote health and longevity and the betterment of mankind.