FK-KMK UGM. The UGM Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing co-hosted the international conference The Network: Toward Unity for Health (TUFH) titled Actualizing Equitable Health Care: An Interprofessional Approach on Friday (25/8) via zoom meeting.

Tom Traill (Policy and Research Director of Community Partners International) is the keynote speaker in the activity which will be held for 2 days, Friday and Saturday, 25 & 26 August 2023. On this occasion, Tom Triall presented material related to challenges in dealing with health problems due to conflict in Burmese.

The conflict started when there was a transfer of power at the expense of ethnicity. Finally, there was a big movement called CDM (Civil Disobedience Movement) which resulted in the paralysis of many public services. “The conflict caused the Burmese population to flee in Bangladesh, other parts of Myanmar and Thailand. This creates different situations, conditions, and challenges in terms of public service delivery,” Tom Traill explained.

According to Tom Traill, the challenge faced in general is the difficulty of access to shelters. Distribution of medicines and vaccines must be carried out through areas without roads that can be passed by vehicles.

There are 3 things that can be a solution to overcome this problem, which is identifying those needs that require advanced support and facilities referral, increasing health education, and explaining how the health system works. “Understanding of health is important because many do not understand why vaccines are important. In fact, vaccines still haven’t earned their trust,” added Tom. Due to the lack of manpower, volunteers are urgently needed to support these programs. The hope is that volunteers can help in screening health conditions and regular check-ups. (Nirwana/Reporter)