Studies of Pinoy doctor hailed

MANILA, Philippines – Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno III, a Filipino medical doctor based at Cardiff University in Wales in the United Kingdom, was recognized by two different international health conferences for his research on the health of seafarers. Prisno is a Nippon Foundation Fellow at the Seafarers International Research Center where he conducts studies on the health of the workers of the maritime industry.

At the 11th Conference of International Society of Travel Medicine held in Budapest, Hungary last May, his two studies entitled “International seafarers as patients: towards a model of an effective global health system” and “Global seafarers: at risk for STIs and HIV when they work and travel” received an award of $3,000 and a travel grant. According to the chair of the jurors, Dr. Assunta Uffer-Marcolongo of Canada, “It was interesting to note that not only one but both studies came out receiving the top scores out of many studies submitted and judged.”

The week after, Prisno received medals for studies he presented at the First International Congress of Maritime, Tropical and Hyperbaric Medicine at Gdynia, Poland on June 4 to 6. His paper presentations were “An analysis of the AIDS epidemic in the maritime industry” and “The anatomy of stress: the Filipino seafarer and his work.” The latter study was conducted together with Nerissa Espiritu and Eva Lopez of the National Maritime Polytechnic of the Philippines.

This government-funded study is based on a survey of 3,000 Filipino seafarers. The conference was held to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Interfaculty Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine in Gdynia of the Medical University of Gdansk.

Prisno is doing extensive studies on the health of seafarers, believing that the health and welfare of seafarers should be analyzed for purposes of formulating policy since the country supplies a third of global seafarers.

He laments the fact that there is no institution in the Philippines which collates data that will help advocate for better working and living conditions for seafarers.

Prisno notes that the World Health Organization has designated Collaborating Centers for the Health of Seafarers to institutions in Poland, Ukraine, Germany and Denmark, when in fact these countries do not have that many seafarers.

He proposes that the country establish a research center to study the health and welfare of Filipino migrants as they leave the country, as they work abroad and as they return. The Philippines has over eight million migrant workers.

After completing his PhD at Cardiff University, Prisno intends to come back to the Philippines and conduct studies in the area of health and development, especially of and for Filipino migrant workers. – With Munting Nayon