PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT

My initial interest in healthcare can be attributed to the fact that as a young person, I
often heard distressing news about numerous deaths of the poor, women, children and elderly
people in the rural areas of my country due to lack of proper and timely medical attention
available to them. It saddened me to see people who had lost their loved ones as a result of
poor quality healthcare. These unfortunate situations had a strong impact on my thoughts
about healthcare provision in my nation and increased my eagerness to learn more about the
healthcare industry. As a result, I decided to pursue my undergraduate studies in a health care
related field. Since then my passion for quality healthcare provision has only been increasing.
Currently, my public health minor has broadened my understanding of health care
provision through the concepts of health promotion and health education. I now understand
the importance of health education and promotion and how it is linked to an improved system
of healthcare. The seven CHES responsibilities that I have learned through this minor will
serve as a guide in helping me promote health education during my career as a health services
professional. I am a believer in the philosophy of social change. Making social, economic and
political changes can greatly benefit the health of individuals. My ultimate career goal is to
work for the provision of affordable, timely and quality healthcare services to different strata
of society, especially, women and children. My ambition is to contribute towards an
organised, efficient and modern system of healthcare for my country that could reach out to
the poor and downtrodden as well. Non- communicable diseases, malnutrition, women and
child health and maternal and infant mortality are the major issues that India is facing and I
would want to help my country overcome these challenges by health promotion and
education activities as well as helping to introduce better health policies with regard to these
problems. Assessing, planning, evaluating and implementing better health care services will
be the key to an improved health care system.
My first important experience in the field of public health was when I conducted a
public health research project as part of my undergraduate program curriculum. It involved
assessing health information systems in all primary health centres of the state of Goa-India. It
gave me an opportunity to meet with and discuss current rural healthcare issues as well as
assess the knowledge, practice and attitude of 170 rural healthcare staff towards health
information systems. I saw myself getting engrossed in this project and I was eager to know
how management of health centres work, the problems that the staff face in terms of lack of
quality infrastructure, insufficient workforce as well as lack of health education and
promotion activities. My interest in public health increased tremendously after having this
practical experience in the field of public health. In order to further explore the field, I plan to
complete as many volunteering hours in the community as possible. Since, I am keen on
working with women and child health issues in the future, I will volunteer with organisations
such as Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) and the Northeast Florida
Healthy Start Coalition program. In addition, I would also attempt on gaining practical
experience in the field by interning with public health agencies such as American Red Cross
Society and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. Lastly, my long term plans would
be to work for the United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
branch in India and help put an end to maternal and child health issues as well as malnutrition
that have been on the rise in the last few years.