Hilton Y. Lam
Director, Institute of Health Policy and
Development Studies
National Institutes of Health
University of the Philippines, Manila

Project Title: Advancing Evidence-based Public Health on Stigma and Infectious Diseases in the Philippines: Culturally Informed Models for Addressing Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

U.S. Affiliation: Brown University Global Health Initiative

Dr. Hilton Lam is the Director of the Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies at the University of the Philippines – Manila (UP Manila), National Institute of Health. He has a PhD in Health Economics, which he obtained from the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Medicine. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Economics from Whittier College in California, U.S.A. and a Master’s degree in Hospital Administration from UP Manila. Dr. Lam has researched extensively on Health Economics, Finance, and Policy, as well as written scientific articles covering a wide array of health- and economic-related topics.
Dr. Lam’s proposed research aims to create a Philippine specific index tool to measure stigma related to Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV, and to assess the cost effectiveness of new innovations in HIV control such as home testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis medication. The research will additionally build on a conceptual framework that integrates social and cultural factors including discursive and cultural characteristics, such as seen in stigma, which influences knowledge, attitudes and capacities related to health, and also the access to health services. It also aims to influence the cultural beliefs about disease which affect institutional practices such as policy making, social categorization, power and resource distribution, education, employment, and income status, which affect and are affected by the stigma attached to a certain disease. Dr. Lam’s research could potentially impact how policy-makers develop strategies for the effective treatment of infectious diseases. The developed stigma-cognizant model could be offered to the Department of Health as a tool for their Health Technology Assessment Office as well as major stakeholders from the Philippine National Health Insurance Corporation and the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. On the other hand, the Hepatitis Stigma tool help the DOH in their conduct of national surveys to help them determine strategies to combat these stigmas and cost-effectiveness.