PHGN

includes adoption of a holistic conceptual framework and strengthening conceptualization skills, creating a sense of leadership, and the ability to learn from various sources and through diverse channels of “knowledge”. Public health education must merge approaches from core public health disciplines as well as social sciences and ethics; methodologies should vary and integrating both quantitative and qualitative approaches while promoting skill-building and personal development.

It is imperative that the curriculum of schools of public health is appropriately configured, retaining the core strengths of the ‘classic’ public health education programmes but adding on several new components which are relevant to the new public health agenda. The learning settings and pedagogical methods need to be modified to integrate experiential learning and stakeholder perspectives (by developing relevant linkages with the health services, civil society and policy makers).

Management studies are another area where public health orientation has to be increased. There is need to advance public health consciousness by introducing shorter public health oriented modules in all management training; recognizing that health, health care and public health responsibilities are becoming important components of all managers especially as an important factor and investment in human resource development and personnel management.

It is important that a school of public health is closely linked to an existing health system and uses the system as a platform for teaching and learning. A learning health facility needs to link with sources of new knowledge and innovation, to have functioning HIS facilities and to encourage an environment of sharing and learning. Teaching public health should take into account the local (national) reality and priorities.

One of the goals of Public Health Education is to identify a competency framework as the starting point and devise curricula that are not dominated by isolated disciplinary structures. A comprehensive PHE curriculum allows for the necessary integration of content and skills for public health personnel at the primary level. There is a need to shift from pure clinical approaches to applied health systems solutions which are necessary to identify and elucidate problems, test models and monitor and evaluate interventions.

Public Health Education engages students when the training is field oriented and community based. It is in the real life situation that the relevance of an epidemiological or statistical approach to a problem or a social science perspective in problem analysis becomes more evident.