Perspectives on COVID-19 vaccination programs around the world: lessons learned for strengthening primary health care
Overview of the webinar series
In the recent past, several countries have joined the clarion call to strengthen universal health coverage and access through the lens of comprehensive primary health care (CPHC). This session describes three critical aspects of CPHC – service delivery models, workforce management, and performance measurement. We share thought-provoking insights from the results of research studies in South Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America and deliberate on the context and nuance of enablers and barriers of providing CPHC in resource constraint settings.
Objective for the webinar series
- To provide a platform for knowledge exchange and collective deliberation on common challenges that are faced by LMICs in provision of CPHC
- Advocate for evidence-based PHC that is nuanced to the local context.
Objectives and agenda for this Webinar
The purpose of this session is to showcase primary care perspectives on primary care and public health integration in the COVID-19 vaccination programme.
Speakers
Dr David Ponka
Dr. David Ponka is the Director of the Besrour Centre for Global Family Medicine at the College of Family Physicians of Canada. He is also an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He has extensive experience in caring for vulnerable and migrant populations in Canada and abroad in nations such as Haiti, Chad and Panama. He has served as a Medical Advisor to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and is a member of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Knowledge Translation and Health Technology Assessment in Health Equity. He has over 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Rifka Chamali
Rifka Chamali is the Special Projects Manager at the Besrour Centre for Global Family Medicine at the College of Family Physicians of Canada. She supports initiatives related to medical education and research. She has a keen interest in instructional design and mental health integration in primary care. She previously worked at Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar and managed research projects on patient satisfaction with the mental health services, psychotic disorders and rheumatic diseases.
Dr Sumeet Sodhi
Dr. Sumeet Sodhi is the Research Lead at the Besrour Centre for Global Family Medicine, Clinician Scientist at the University Health Network and the Academic Lead for the Indigenous Health Partners Program at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. She has extensive experience working as a researcher in global health and resource-poor contexts, primarily in Africa, Asia and Canada’s northern communities. She was affiliated with Dignitas International for over 10 years, where she was instrumental in building operational research capacity in the organization by championing integration of the research and program departments.
