Since completing her public health doctorate at the USF College of Public Health, Dr. Hanifa M. Denny has been making her mark in the field domestically and abroad.  Among her successes as an associate professor at Diponegoro University in Semarang, Indonesia, she has secured research grants, mentored numerous students and become director of both the public health undergraduate and PhD programs.

This summer, Denny was invited back to the States to speak in Washington, DC, at the Institute of Medicine at its meeting July 29-30. The meeting’s topic was “Approaches to Universal Health Coverage and Occupational Health and Safety for the Informal Workforce in Developing Countries.” Specifically, she served as a panelist on the effectiveness of occupational health interventions for informal sectors in Indonesia and the options for their delivery.

The workshop was part of ongoing activities at the IOM, the Forum on Public Private Partnerships for Global Health and Safety, which seeks to foster a collaborative community of multi-sector health and safety leaders from multinational companies, as well as members from governments, foundations, humanitarian and professional organizations, academia and civil society to leverage the strengths of varying sectors and multiple disciplines to yield benefits for global health and safety.

A particular focus of the meeting was the informal workforce as defined by the International Labour Organization in Brazil, Ghana, India, Thailand, and South Africa. Overall goals are to illuminate best practices and lessons learned in the financing of health care for the informal workforce in low- and middle-income countries, as well as the best practices with respect to health care delivery models that are especially suitable to meet the needs of the informal workforce.

Using country-level experiences, speakers and participants examined multi-sector approaches, successes, challenges and lessons learned to identify innovative approaches and opportunities for partnerships aimed at improving equitable access to quality services that meet the needs of the informal workforce in resource-constrained settings. The Rockefeller Foundation, a founding member of the PPP forum, provided substantial funding support for the workshop.

“I am grateful for my experience at USF, which has prepared me for my current position,” Denny said. “I truly would not be who I am or where I am today without the wonderful faculty and staff at the USF College of Public Health. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about my time as a doctoral student at USF and am grateful for the time I spent and the wonderful opportunities I was able to explore while I was there.”

Photos courtesy of Dr. Hanifa M. Denny.