Filipina doctor receives UAE Health Foundation Prize By SHERYLIN UNTALAN, GMA Integrated News

A Filipina Doctor and advocate for exclusive breastfeeding and improving the health of mothers and newborns was awarded the 2023 United Arab Emirates Health Foundation Prize during the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva. Dr. Maria Asuncion Silvestre, the founder of the nongovernmental organization “Kalusugan ng Mag-Ina” (Health of Mother and Child), was among those honored during the World Health Assembly for their exceptional contributions to public health. According to the World Health Organization, Silvestre designed the pioneering and affordable Essential Intrapartum and Newborn Care Protocol consisting of a simple set of choreographed actions for health workers attending a mother during delivery and her newborn immediately after birth and during the first week of the child’s life. Silvestre's protocol significantly contributed to bridging the health equity gap in mother-and-child care and earned partnerships with national governments and 17 countries in the WHO Western Pacific Region. She also played a pivotal role in scaling up the First Embrace campaign for Early Essential Newborn Care. “Nonseparated, the mother/newborn pair is our first food system. We should protect it as passionately and as furiously as we protect our agricultural lands, coral reefs, and rainforests,” said Silvestre said during the awarding ceremony. “We sought to rechoreograph actions in the first minutes to hours after birth, eliminating unnecessary actions, so we formulated a time-bound sequence of steps. Many health facilities in my country and elsewhere implemented the Protocol and reaped the benefits. Evidence shows that receiving at least one of the four core steps was protective; the more elements of essential care received, the more newborn survival improved. Breastfeeding saves lives,” she added. The United Arab Emirates Health Foundation Prize is awarded to one or more persons, institutions or nongovernmental organizations that have made an outstanding contribution to health development. — DVM, GMA Integrated News

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