Checking in with Mr. Nic and the Public Health Program

Matthew Anthony Nicasio, MPH, is currently the Public Health Director at Hillside. He plans, organizes, and oversees the implementation of global health activities with medical, pharmacy, physical therapy, and public health students on their practicum rotation at Hillside Belize during the past four years. He was the Deputy Regional Manager of health services in the Southern Health Region of the Ministry of Health in Belize for four years (2006-2010). Mr. Nicasio held the post of Coordinator of the Rural Water & Sanitation Program of the Ministry of National Development, Investment & Culture in Belize (2004-2006). Between January 2001 and November 2004, he was the Project Manager of the Health Sector Reform Project in the Ministry of Health with partnership with international donors – European Union, Inter-American Bank, and Caribbean Development Bank.

Students work with Hillside’s Public Health Director, Mr. Nic, to determine an appropriate independent public health project based on a needs assessment, student interest, and home institution requirements and participate in globally-engaged, service-learning opportunities through interaction with the Belizean health system.

With the advent of the COVID-19 globally, Hillside Health Care International had to upgrade its Public Health Internship/Practicum program to a more virtual approach. Our global health internships have undergraduate and graduate-level participation to explore global and public health issues in communities, highlighting how health systems deliver health care in various environmental situations.

Since January 2021, three global health students of York University have been engaged with the Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) Project for four primary schools in Rural Toledo. The students have been great in meeting their learning goals, their University’s field study requirements and are in the process of preparing possible policy briefs to facilitate WASH implementation in rural primary schools in Toledo, Belize. This project’s beneficiaries will include students, teachers, parents, school management, and policy personnel in Health and Education Ministries.