Before pursuing MIHMEP, I worked as a registered nurse in one of Italy’s leading public hospitals with a permanent contract and gained international experience as a clinical nurse and program manager in Thailand and Peru. My focus and passion has always been on improving access to and quality of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health services. While working in hospital settings, I realized that our understanding of healthcare management was limited, driving me to broaden my knowledge in this sector. I sought out the MIHMEP program to strengthen my skills in healthcare management and tackle complex global health challenges. Thanks to the internship experience at WHO during MIHMEP, later on I gained extensive experience working within the United Nations system across Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia, supporting over 30 countries in strengthening healthcare systems, improving national policies, and building workforce capacity. In my first post-MIHMEP experience I have been awarded as UNDESA fellow by the Italian government funded programme, where I supported UNFPA’s national strategy to reduce maternal mortality and adolescent pregnancy in Bolivia. In 2019, I was selected as a Junior Professional Officer by the same prestigious programme, which led to several years of work in WHO as a Technical Officer in Ethiopia and Geneva, where I led global initiatives and research in maternal health, including the Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response program. MIHMEP gave me the essential skills in management, policy, and economics and supported me in identify and grow skills in my area of interest to drive impactful changes in healthcare systems and global public health.
palestra.ambassador@master.sdabocconi.it
Linkedin profile
Francesca Palestra
- Italian