The Shin Kong Life Foundation recognizes the medical care needs in Myanmar and has accordingly partnered with the Shin Kong Bank, Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, and the Manan Trust from Australia as sponsors. In addition, we work with NGOs such as Global Health through Education, Training and Service (GHETS), the Boston University Family Medicine Global Health Collaborative (BU GHC), and the Myanmar Academy of Family Physicians (MAFP) to implement the Myanmar Medical Empowerment Project. The project, which has long been committed to establishing family medicine as a specialty field and training personnel, makes use of structured thinking to fill in the gaps in Myanmar’s health care system. Aside from the goal of improving the overall health care environment, the project also promotes Myanmar-Taiwan medical exchanges.

Both the Boston University Family Medicine Global Health Collaborative (BU GHC) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) were invited to take part in the educational facet of the program, which involves establishing a training program for the next generation of physician educators in family medicine, as well as collaborating with government and academia to provide comprehensive coursework and clinical training.

In 2020 the project’s executive partners, alongside the Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports (MOHS) and the University of Medicine (1 and 2), Yangon, drafted the curriculum for Myanmar’s first ever Master’s program in family medicine, further developing the talent pipeline. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Myanmar Academy of Family Physicians (MAFP) was also invited to take part in the Myanmar government’s pandemic prevention plan. By establishing emergency clinics, introducing telemedicine consultations and virtual training, and disseminating public health information, they were able to help the government respond effectively to the pandemic.