Michael Chommie Appointed to Lead Dynamic PSI Myanmar Team

Posted Julho 22, 2020

PSI is excited to welcome long-time PSIer Michael Chommie as the newest Country Representative for Myanmar. Michael and his field team are working closely with the Ministry of Health and Sports, as well as a host of other partners, to achieve full Universal Health Coverage in Myanmar by 2030.

PSI Myanmar is recognized across the country as the largest NGO that deals directly with the private sector. It currently has over 20 active grants from a variety of bilateral, multilateral and non-traditional sources; and as of 2020, 22% of their funding comes from non-traditional sources. These grants are used to drive change throughout Myanmar’s health sector, which is structured into the following four business channels:

Subsidized Commercial: A network of over 30,000 private commercial outlets that ensure Reproductive Health (RH), HIV, malaria and diarrhea prevention products are distributed throughout the country.
Sun Quality Health: A franchised clinic network of general practitioners in urban and peri-urban areas that is composed of over 1,300 clinics across 203 townships. The Myanmar team assists these practitioners in RH, HIV, TB, malaria, diarrhea prevention and treatment, pneumonia and non-communicable diseases.
Community Health Services: Over 3,550 providers are working in rural areas that are at risk for malaria, while also working to assist their neighbors on RH, TB and diarrhea.
TOP (Targeted Outreach Program) Network: PSI Myanmar’s 18 TOP Clinics provide HIV testing, treatment and counseling services, as well as TB testing and treatment for key populations in Myanmar (men who have sex with men, transgender women and female sex workers).

During his three-year tenure in Myanmar, Michael’s number one priority is the localization of these four business channels. Michael and the field team are working with the PSI teams in DC and Myanmar to ensure each of these entities will undergo the localization process in a deliberate, phased, and forward-thinking manner.

PSI Myanmar will continue operating as a PSI branch office that works alongside its multiple in-country entities, but will have a much leaner and more focused market-shaping profile, working to fulfill the mission of PSI’s Accelerated Market Group (which includes other countries, like Myanmar, with well-developed health systems). The branch office ensures a strong global PSI connection for the years ahead, and is vital for contributing to PSI’s health impact in the country. The team has already exhibited some early successes with their Market Transformation Work and Integrated Service Delivery and has aims to build on these areas. PSI Myanmar is also a leader in disease surveillance and is assisting the Ministry of Health and Sports with strengthening Health Security through Emergency Operations Centers during Public Health Emergencies.

PSI Myanmar is comprised of a team of nearly 1,000 dedicated staff members. Get to know the Myanmar team and their projects a little better on their PSI page here!

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Implementing the SLPM digital ecosystem brings numerous benefits to health systems. It allows for more strategic and efficient workforce training and performance management, enabling ministries of health to track changes in health workers’ knowledge, quality of care, service utilization, and health outcomes in real time. The ecosystem also supports better stewardship of mixed health systems by facilitating engagement with the private sector, aligning training programs and standards of care, and integrating private sector data into national HMIS. Furthermore, it enables the integration of community health workers into the broader health system, maximizing their impact and contribution to improving health outcomes and strengthening primary healthcare.

Michael Chommie Appointed to Lead Dynamic PSI Myanmar Team

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Digitalizing contraceptive counseling to reach rural women and girls in Ethiopia

Building community health worker capacity to deliver malaria care

Taking a market-based approach to scale sanitation in Ethiopia

Promoting self-managed care like Self-testing and Self-Sampling

Using peer coaches to counter HIV stigma in South Africa

simplifying consumers’ journey to care in Vietnam

Engaging the private sector for disease surveillance in Myanmar

Training health workers in Angola

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