Introducing Shaun Noronha, Health Workforce Officer

In November, Shaun Noronha joined IntraHealth International's Washington, DC office and serves as the CapacityPlus health workforce officer. Read more about Shaun's background in his expert profile.

Welcome, Shaun. How did you become interested in working on human resources for health issues?
I trained as a physician in India, and after completing my medical studies, I worked for one year as a medical intern, and then one year with two nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that focused on community-based maternal and child health. My NGO work included a teaching role, as I worked as a liaison with community health workers—training them, supervising them, and making sure they were adhering to protocols.

For Jamkhed, a comprehensive rural health project, I trained social health workers—an intermediate cadre between community and professional health worker who are trained in the medical aspects of social work—with physicians. Also for the physicians, who were already trained in the alternative practices of Ayurveda and Unani, I provided training in hypertension and other noncommunicable diseases.

It was through part of that framework, I realized that the future of health care in the developing world was more about task-shifting and training community health workers to do work that was traditionally done by trained doctors and nurses. That’s where I started making my transition from a clinical role to a policy-based career.

In your spare time, you write the Global Health Policy blog. How did you become a blogger?
When I was in medical school, and even when I was working in the field as a young physician, the Millennium Development Goals simply did not occupy my mind space. I had heard of them, sure, but they meant nothing to me other than eight bullets on a list. It was only after I moved to the US to study at Harvard for my master's in public health and after I interned at UNICEF did I realize the significance of the implications of the Millennium Development Goals.

Essentially, field health workers are not very cognizant of global policy trends, which unfortunately remain in the realm of boardrooms and conferences. I felt that it is essential to make global health policy a very real, tangible discussion that the everyday health worker can relate to and feel a part of.

If I may be so bold, my blog is an attempt to bring everyday relevance to global health policy. As a blogger, I relate my personal experiences to the larger framework of global health policy; that’s a really important missing piece.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about yourself?
When I’m not working or studying, I’m really into sports, especially soccer.

I was the captain of the soccer team in medical school. I also enjoy badminton, table tennis, and cricket.

I draw cartoons, as well, about the hapless life of a medical student.

Photo by Jennifer Solomon. Cartoon by Shaun Norohna.