Meet the Filipina doctor who received the 2023 UAE Health Foundation Prize

Meet the Filipina doctor who received the 2023 UAE Health Foundation Prize

A Filipina doctor, who is also a researcher, advocate for exclusive breastfeeding and founder of a non-governmental organisation, has been awarded the 2023 UAE Health Foundation Prize at the recent 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.

Dr Maria Asuncion Silvestre from the Philippines was recognised for her advocacy work in promoting exclusive breastfeeding and improving the health of mothers and newborns.

In collaboration with the Philippine government and 17 other countries of WHO (World Health Organisation) Western Pacific Region, Dr Silvestre scaled up the ‘First Embrace campaign for Early Essential Newborn Care’, a set of simple WHO-recommended and cost-effective actions for health workers attending a mother during delivery and her newborn immediately after birth and during the first week of the child’s life.

Her work has helped save lives at national level and beyond, earning her the 2023 UAE Health Foundation Prize.

Silvestre said during the awarding ceremony: “We sought to ‘re-choreograph’ actions in the first minutes to hours after birth, eliminating unnecessary actions, so we formulated a time-bound sequence of steps.”

“Many health facilities in my country and elsewhere implemented the protocol and reaped the benefits. Evidence shows that receiving at least one of the four core steps was protective; the more elements