PNG health partners farewell Dr Pavlin

U.S. Government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) joined an enthusiastic group of health professionals and colleagues to bid farewell to the World Health Organization (WHO) epidemiologist, Dr. Boris Pavlin.

Pavlin departed Papua New Guinea this Saturday, March 18 to work at the WHO headquarters in Geneva.

Dr. Pavlin, who has been with the WHO Papua New Guinea office for the last five years, has worked closely with the National Department of Health (NDoH) and has been pivotal in establishing the Field Epidemiology Training (FET) for Papua New Guinea, which to date has produced over 45 field epidemiologists.

This training program is supported by the WHO, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Hunter New England Health, and CDC.

“Dr. Pavlin’s work has complemented the work of CDC in being committed to building country capacity in controlling disease outbreaks, doing disease surveillance, generating data for decision-making, and training more healthcare workers,” said CDC’s Country Director, Steven Terrell-Perica. 

Dr. Abel Yamba, CDC’s Strategic Information Advisor, thanked Dr. Pavlin for his contributions towards building the capacity for the local FET trainers, and Dr. Sibauk Vivaldo Bieb, Executive Manager of Public Health and Berry Ropa, Manager-Disease Surveillance and Response, from the NDoH, for their vision and leadership in working with Dr. Pavlin to build the FET program.

The FET program for Papua New Guinea received international recognition at a recent regional Field Epidemiology Conference in Cambodia.

 

Picture: The FET partners and trainers with Dr. Pavlin at the farewell dinner

Author: 
Press Statement