Ms. Fumiko Shibuya, currently a third-year doctoral candidate at the Graduate School of Health Sciences, has won the Encouragement Award for 2024, given by the Japan Association for Global Health（JAGH）. The paper for which she received the award is titled ?“Multi-Country Case Study on School Health Policy and its Implementation in Relation to COVID-19 Control in Micronesia Small Island Developing States’ (Tropical Medicine and Health 52, 27, 2024).
https://tropmedhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41182-024-00590-8
<Comments from Ms. Shibuya>
“It is a great honor to receive the Young Researcher Award from the Japan Association for Global Health. I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Jun Kobayashi, my co-researchers in the Micronesia region of the Pacific Island Region, and the members of the Department of Global Health for their invaluable guidance and support.
The objective of my doctoral research was to identify school health-related policies and the factors influencing their implementation in relation to the various phases of COVID-19 control. While conducting data collection across three countries presented significant challenges, I successfully carried out fieldwork in each country with generous support from University of Guam’s School of Health, as well as the lecturers and faculty members of the Nursing Programs at College of Micronesia-FSM, College of the Marshall Islands, and Palau Community College. I am especially grateful to the interviewees in these three countries who participated in this research and provided their valuable insights.
Encouraged by this award, I am committed to advancing my work as a nursing lecturer and researcher. I will continue to pursue research in the field of school health, an area of particular interest for me. Once again, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to all who have supported me along this journey.”
<Comments from Professor Kobayashi>
“This is a policy study that compares policies implemented or formulated during the COVID-19 pandemic between the three countries of the Micronesian region. This year, five papers were submitted, and three of them were said to be extremely high-level and highly competitive. Our laboratory within the Department of Global Health has been working for many years to develop methods used in this study, which are methods for scientifically clarifying events that have happened around the world. The multiple case study method is said to be the most difficult of all qualitative research methods, and Mr. Shibuya completed it together with researchers from four countries.”
The award ceremony and award lecture were held at the Joint Conference on Global Health (39th Japan Society for International Health, 65th Japanese Society of Tropical Medicine, 1st Taiwan Global Health Society) held in Itoman City, Okinawa between 16-17 November.
