[Webinar] Insights for public health policy - Philippine Public Policy Network

On April 9, 2021, I presented a talk analyzing the Philippines' pandemic response as part of a webinar organized by the Philippine Public Policy Network, entitled "Moving to the Next Normal: Behavioral Insights for Public Health Policy". Joining me in the session moderated by Dr. Jalton Taguibao were Prof. Marie Fe Mendoza who gave opening remarks, Joanne Yoong who offered behavioral insights, as well as Senator Risa Hontiveros who related the pandemic with universal health care. 

My presentation focused on the following 'pathologies' of the country's COVID response, namely (1) the 'responsibilization of the individual'; (2) "covidization” of health care; (3) “one size fits all” solutions; and (4) (mis)use of science and expertise. Taken together, these elements characterize what I call 'medical authoritarianism' in the country. 

[Webinar] Preparing the Frontline for the COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout: Learning from the Past

On January 22, 2021, I joined a panel of experts in sharing regional experiences about vaccination as part of the webinar series organized by the BMJ, Asian Development Bank and UNICEF to "explore key challenges from past vaccine campaigns and facilitate a discussion to support countries with their Covid-19 vaccine rollout.

I shared a presentation entitled "Vaccine risk communication: Lessons from the Philippines" which center on insights from the dengue vaccine controversy, drawing on WHO guidelines for vaccine safety communication as framework.  

Joining me in the panel were Dr Patrick L. Osewe: Chief of Health Sector Group, Asian Development Bank; Ms Lulu Ariyantheny Dewi, Epidemiologist, Immunization Sub‐Directorate, Ministry of Health Indonesia; and Ms Wendy Erasmus, Chief Health, UNICEF Pacific Islands. The webinar was moderated by Dr. Ashley McKimm, Director of Partnership Development, BMJ.

For more information and for a future upload of the recording, please visit the BMJ website.

[Keynote] ReLocations Symposium - Medical Populism and the Global South

On November 26, 2020, as part of the ReLocations Symposium at the University of Toronto, I gave a keynote lecture entitled " Medical Populism and the Global South". The summary of the presentation was as follows: 

COVID-19 has highlighted both the role of political leadership in public health - and the tendency of leaders to engage in simplification, spectacularization, and forging of divisions in responding to the pandemic. What are the specific conditions of possibility in the Global South that enable medical populists to thrive? My presentation will make use of illustrative examples in the Asia Pacific that illustrate different instantiations of medical populism as well as alternative styles of health governance. 

The event was hosted by University of Toronto's: School of Cities, Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, Institute for the History of Philosophy of Science and Technology, and Department of Political Science.

[Presentation] Annual Corazon B. Lamug Lecture - Medical populism and the COVID-19 pandemic

On November 25, 2020, upon the invitation of UP Los Baños' Department of Social Sciences, I delivered the Annual Corazon B. Lamug Lecture in honor of the former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and one of the foremost sociologists of her time. 

In the presentation, I discussed my work on medical populism and how this style of leadership has impacted the pandemic response in the Philippines and around the world.