South-East Asia Regional Board Election

Dr. Priya Balasubramaniam

Candidate: SEA Regional Board Representative

I have been a long-standing member of Health System Global (HSG) since its first meeting in Montreux in 2010. Since then, through participation in subsequent conferences in Beijing, Vancouver and Liverpool I have had the opportunity to watch HSG evolve -- to its present day avatar of a global society of knowledge and innovation that has boldly embraced the complexity of country health systems, its inherent grey areas and the assortment of stakeholders needed to make it work. This is no mean feat! - and it has truly contributed to my evolution and thinking as a researcher and practitioner of public health. My approach to public health field-building has been both entrepreneurial and contrarian in linking research evidence to the challenges of practice. Many of the multi-country/state projects I have led, investigated social, political, and organisational health system bottlenecks. These include adapting and scaling innovations to improve health services, determining causal relationships between a policy or technology and its impact, and tracking outcomes (access, equity, quality of care) in ‘mixed’ health systems. As a coordinating member of Private Sector in Health Thematic Working Group I am actively engaged in leading various activities in health systems strengthening and policy. The most recent being a Mutual Learning Series on redesigning mixed health systems to generate fresh ideas on how researchers can partner and learn from innovative collaborations between governments and the private sector in response to COVID-19. I would like to further this involvement by bringing my experience and enthusiasm for HSPR to a broader level. If elected, I believe I could contribute to furthering HSG’s existing mission in the following ways: • Bring new actors and partners to invest in and shape HPSR. A unique feature of HSG is the ‘voice’ that it has given to diverse stakeholders to participate in HSPR field building. My engagement with non-state actors in digital technology, social innovation, industry, infrastructure and the environment could facilitate bringing these different stakeholders to contribute to HSGs strategic goals on health equity and access; • Strengthen regional contributions from Asia with community members from Africa, EMRO and the Americas without letting go of HSGs global mandate. Regional representation is one of the strengths of HSG, and I would be able to bring my networking skills to contribute to greater cross-pollination among TWGs and forge fresh southern alliances by working with the board to implement new strategies. • Work with the board and membership to reinforce HSGs mission to re-imagine health systems through new research methods, learning and collaboration. The socioeconomic upheaval caused by COVID-19 has been a stress test for every assumption, structure, and solution in healthcare systems globally. While the pandemic has revealed health capacity gaps in governance, access and equity, it has also been transformative in being able to fast-track and scale healthcare innovations and demonstrate resilience of communities in coping with health system shocks. What better time than now to leverage this great disruption to learn, evaluate and advocate health system reform.

Dr. Shubha Nagesh

Candidate: SEA Regional Board Representative

As one of the initial global health graduates in India in 2011, I have followed the work of HSG and participated in HSR conferences and supported activities in the South Asia region. I am well placed to take it on— it encompasses all that I have believed in and strive to work for. As someone who strives to make childhood disabilities a global health priority, I have often found HSR conferences a sound platform to speak about our work in Uttarakhand, the Himalayan state of India. As a Mentor with the Canadian Society of International Health and Global Health Mentorships, I encourage more young people to affiliate with HSG as they embark on their global health careers. Early on, I realised that multiple vantage points are necessary to push this agenda. As someone from a small non-profit in one of India’s smallest hill states, with a community who despite being the world's largest minority, remain peripheral to policies, programs and funds, applying to the HSG board is a tall agenda for me. My experiences bring to focus the importance of the multiple dimensions of public health, its interdisciplinary nature that incorporates social sciences, and the value of connecting and engaging with communities, particularly those disadvantaged by poor awareness, stigma and discrimination, poor quality of life and access to services. Those of us who work with such communities need a chair at the table in board rooms, so we can put forward community-centric program and research initiatives, focusing on socioeconomic, cultural and political and behavioural dimensions of public health, its perception and delivery of services. My experience with supporting diverse teams through my three jobs in healthcare, global health and disability leaves me well placed for this role, as I will bring to the board significant perspectives from the community in South Asia. My diverse experiences in 15 years working with the government, in civil society, in private practice and with a vulnerable community add to my breadth of experience, which I believe will prove to be essential support to the role on the board. Other experiential motivations that encourage me to apply for this position include my writing around global health equity, speaking at national and international platforms, mentoring emerging practitioners in global health, role with Women in Global Health India, my passion to elevate young women, to include women from non profits in the leadership dialogue, to establish strong systems for women in global health in India and my drive to encourage diverse partners in healthcare to consider a public health dimension to their work. My enthusiasm and commitment for health systems in global health remains as strong as ever so much so I now want to expand my role to apply to be on a board to represent my region, bring in perspectives- challenges and celebrations alike to further support my application and my future role with HSG. I am keen to be a force for change and push the agenda for HSR members in South Asia.

Dr. Devaki Nambiar

Candidate: SEA Regional Board Representative

I am a health policy and systems researcher with an interest in health equity and the determinants of health. I’ve been based out of India for the past decade. Throughout this period, I have been a proud and active member of Health Systems Global, working specifically with the Evidence to Action and SHAPES Thematic Working Groups (I for instance did a blog for the 2016 HSR) I have had the good fortune of meeting many colleagues and collaborators in our region while working with the former regional Board Member, Dr. Kaaren Mathias on regional capacity strengthening activities hosted in Delhi in 2019, as well as a regional special virtual panel on health equity in Asia in 2020. Since 2014, as a member of the SHAPES and Translating Evidence Into Action Thematic Working groups, I have been involved with writing and research projects, abstract reviews and planning of sessions and activities of HSG symposia in Beijing, Cape Town, Vancouver, Liverpool, and Dubai/virtually. A particularly rewarding experience has been working with mentors and two mentees as part of HSG’s first time women authors mentorship program introduced in the past year. I was also actively engaged in supporting nominations for the HSG societal awards, particularly in recent cycles of the symposium. It has been important to me that rising stars as well as those that already light the way be seen and appreciated. Going forward, I am keen to increase representation and increase engagement across the South East Asian region. First, I wish to catalyse wider representation of countries in region. Second, I wish to have wider representation of perspectives in each country of the region. I plan to accomplish this by way of linking up to existing convening activities I have been leading in the region on systems thinking as well as health equity. In the last symposium cycle, we supported the Secretariat in prioritizing the participation of more than ‘the usual suspects’ and that will be my mantra going forward as well. I’m also keen to create more opportunities for regional dialogue and interaction, capacity-strengthening, as well as country-specific interactions that span across what the Thai call the “triangle that moves mountains” – civil society practitioners, academics, and policymakers. As my colleagues in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka have taught me, these categories are not mutually exclusive! In fact, making these categories less exclusive is what I propose as a board member – researchers should think more like policymakers who should think more like researchers and all of us should be trying to fill in the shoes of the practitioner and the person on the street who is trying to navigate health and wellness in an increasingly complex world. Recognising and drawing such connections is what I hope to contribute to HSG as a Board Member, who represents and amplifies our region’s perspectives and experiences in relation to health systems. I hope I will be given the opportunity by you all!