The Public Health Study Tour (PHST) is an intensive two-week program for Australian students who wish to learn and gain experience in the field of public health in Indonesia. Since 2016, the University of Indonesia (UI) Faculty of Public Health (FKM) has collaborated with the Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies (ACICIS) to organize PHST. This year, PHST is being held virtually again. The virtual tours include a series of interactive lectures and visits to health facilities and related organizations or communities. It allowed participants to see first-hand how Indonesia’s public health system works and understand its complex challenges. Held on 2-16 July 2022, this program is the 11th Batch of holding PHST at FPH UI.
The July 2022 PHST activity invited various speakers as seminar speakers from FPH UI, the Ministry of Health, several NGOs such as Samsara and Rifka Annisa, BKKBN, as well as other faculties at UI such as FEB, FIB, and FIK. The seminar material covered various interesting topics related to public health in Indonesia. These topics are Introduction to Indonesia, General Overview of Indonesian Public Health System, Indonesia Health Development Overview in the context of Covid-19 Pandemic, Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia, Disaster Mitigation in Indonesia, DHF and Malaria, Nutrition and Food Safety, Non-communicable Diseases, Sexual and Reproductive Health, HIV, Mental Health, and Neglected Diseases. Every day, participants are allowed to discuss the topics in their groups, and on weekends, each group is required to present one of the topics discussed that week.
In addition to seminars, this activity also includes virtual field visits to hospitals, health centers, posyandu, YAKKUM rehabilitation center, Kali Code Community, World Mosquito Program, and Reduce Reuse Recycle (TPS 3R) Waste Processing Sites. To increase participant knowledge, language classes were also held by the UI International Language Institute (LBI). Participants also took part in cooking and dancing classes organized by LBI UI.
Various experts involved as resource persons include Yudi Bachrioktora, S.Hum, M.A; Prof. dr. Purnawan Junadi, MPH, Ph.D.; Dr. Ede Surya Darmawan, SKM, MDM; Dewi Nur Aisyah, SKM, MSc, DIC, Ph.D.; Dr. dr. Brian Sriprahastuti, MPH; Prof. Dr. dr. Sabarinah, M.Sc., dr. Iwan Ariawan, MSPH; Prof. dr. Fatma Lestari, M.Si., Ph.D; Ahmad Syafiq, Ph.D; Agustin Kusumayati, Ph.D; Prof. Dr. dr. Ratna Djuwita Hatma, MPH; Dien Anshari, Ph.D.; dr. Moon Samosir Omas; Prof. dr. Mondastri Korib Sudaryo, M.S., D.Sc.; dr. Nia Reviani, MAPS; Prof. Dr. Budi Anna Keliat, MAppSc, Dr. dr. Tri Yunis Miko Wahyono, M.Sc., and representatives from UI Hospital, RSMM, RSKO, Ministry of Health, Samsara, Rifka Annisa, Posyandu, and Puskesmas.
So, to make the program more successful and impressive, Student Buddies accompany the participants during the series of events. FKM UI students who become buddies are selected through selection. In batch 11, 8 buddies accompanied the participants during the event. Student Buddies are tasked with accompanying the discussion, ensuring the activeness of the participants, guiding games, making final presentations, and providing additional insights to participants regarding public health in Indonesia. At the end of the program, the buddies made a video presentation for the participants. The presence of buddies received a positive response from the participants, the tour leader, and the ACICIS team. The buddies also benefited from their participation in the PHST program, such as increasing their knowledge and expanding their network.
PHST has an essential value for FPH UI. “Inbound activities for foreign students to FPH UI, such as PHST which have been running at FPH UI since 2016, are very important for the academic reputation of FPH UI which is moving towards internationalization. FPH UI’s academic reputation will also be part of UI’s academic reputation on the international stage. In particular, the inbound PHST program at FPH UI will stimulate academic internationalization activities at FPH UI on a larger scale,” said the Dean of FPH UI, Prof. Dr. Mondastri Korib Sudaryo, M.S, D.Sc. (BK)
