Public Health Specialist

Safety standards and health initiatives can help improve the daily health of individuals and families within a community. However, they must be constantly monitored and
re-evaluated, with improvements made to ensure they remain effective and cost-efficient. Strong health initiatives can help save lives, reduce the amount of disease and improve the quality of life for many people.

A Public Health Analyst/Specialist assists individuals, families and communities to understand and manage health related issues. He/she will perform assessments of health policies and programs, as well as collect and analyse data to assist in finding the best course of actions to maintain strong health programs. The Analyst/Specialist will assess the impact of environmental issues on public health and help communicate to the public minimum health safety standards that should be adopted.

DID YOU KNOW?

• One of the key accomplishments of worldwide public health programmes is
  immunisations, and the eradication of diseases like polio.

Dr. Monirath
Public Health Specialist
Calmette Hospital

I love every aspect of my job, ranging from the technical laboratory work to teaching the next group of students.

I am a Medical Doctor working in the field of Pathology (cancer diagnostics and prevention) at Calmette Hospital. I have been Head of the Pathology Department for four years. Before this, I did my specialisation training and a PhD research in pathology/cancer diagnostics for 4 years in Belgium.

Sciences were always my favourite subjects in school. Knowing my personality, knowledge and interest in science, my Biology Teacher pushed me toward medical school after high school. During my medical study and training, I realised that cancer incidence and mortality keeps increasing worldwide, particularly in developing countries like Cambodia. I did a small survey on the existing human resources in this field and found out there was a great need for more specialists in this field. That is the story of me embarking on my career path.

I love every aspect of my job, ranging from the technical laboratory work to teaching the next group of students. I also enjoy advocating for the improvement of cancer prevention and care in Cambodia.

Also, this job comes with challenges. Firstly, the Cambodian populace value foreign health services over local ones. It’s hard to change their perspective but at least I can contribute to the improvement of cancer prevention and care services in my hospital and hopefully my country. Secondly, medical students are often more attracted to other fields in which there already thousands of specialists, overlooking the importance of cancer diagnostics. Some may be turned away from cancer diagnostics because you work behind the scenes, not dealing directly with patients, but assisting Doctors to diagnose and manage their clients.

By 2017, I’d like to establish the National Cancer Prevention Unit at the National Cancer Centre. I would also like to lead the Working Group for Cancer Prevention at the Ministry of Health towards effective implementation of national strategies against cancer.

Cambodia faces a shortage of specialists, notably in the field of cancer. There is so much to be done and a great demand for qualified human resources. For this very reason I would recommend this career path. My advice to anyone looking in this direction would be to: have the qualifications and technical training; be highly committed to the betterment of the health care system, particularly cancer prevention and control; and be a great communicator/networker.