By Ryan Louis Mantilla 

The Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine-American Educational Foundation (PAEF) joined forces to improve the public health situation in the country.
 
To better prepare healthcare professionals in various public health-related fields, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire and OIC Undersecretary Beverly Lorraine Ho led the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between DOH and PAEF. 
 
The MOU aims to create a general framework for facilitating exchanges based on equality and reciprocal benefit principles as part of the DOH's capacity-building and research initiatives under the Universal Health Care Law.
 
The programs that DOH and PAEF shall develop must include, among others, "Health Systems Management, Environmental and Community Health, Health Policy and Administration, Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance, and Infectious Disease Control."
 
Further, Vergeire revealed that the agency aims to open similar opportunities for Job Order (JO) personnel.
 
"Universal Health Care is centered around supporting and uplifting people–not just the people who require healthcare services, but also the people who provide those services or those who toil to make those services effective, responsive, and accessible," said Vergeire. 
 
She added that it is "necessary to pour equal attention [into] ensuring the growth, development, and wellness" of healthcare professionals in the country.
 
"Through this partnership, we expect to develop a self-sustaining mechanism within the DOH and the sector at large that constantly breeds newer generations of technical experts and leaders in health," Vergeire concluded.