Public health is not for everyone but Dr. Mianne Silvestre chose this path. The other alternative was to continue working in NICUs saving one baby, one life at a time, truly noble work that is a daily occurrence for clinicians. Mianne chose differently. She took the evidence and put together a package of effective neonatal interventions that would be accessible to all neonates and improve their chances of survival. But it was more than a package of interventions; she put together interventions that strengthened the bonds of the mother-newborn dyad, which I am sure, has benefits beyond the newborn period, though it is hard to document this type of ‘soft’ outcomes. I don’t have the numbers to show this, but I am also sure that Mianne, in making her choice-in putting together the evidence for a package, in creating an NGO to promote awareness of and competencies in health workers providing this package, has saved many more babies than she could have done by herself and a team in the NICU. And the babies she saved through Unang yakap would be of a different profile. It would include those from the poor and marginalised and underserved, those who would not ordinarily reach the NICU. And Unang Yakap widened its embrace to beyond the Philippines to the region. Public health work is rarely given recognition. I am very happy that Mianne received a  prestigious WHO award giving global recognition to her work. I am very happy that I am part of class’82 where we take care of each other, our families, our extended families, and beyond. Isang mahigpit na yakap to Mianne and to all of us.

- Tessa Tan Torres - Edejer, UPCM 82

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