PHGN

The launch of the Public Health Global Network (PHGN) is timely, in the context of rapid health transitions in many countries across the world and rapidly evolving concepts on the manner in which public health action must be reconfigured to meet the needs of people. The importance of this e-network is emphasized by the fact that some of these countries are passing through a critical phase in epidemiological, demographic and socioeconomic trajectories.

This platform has been created to generate new learning and initiate a multilevel and plural dialogue between academics, researchers and public health practitioners across the globe so as to gradually build up strong partnerships towards south-south cooperation; through this network, schools of public health, stakeholders and the community of practice can share experiences and curricula, transfer best practices, caution against replication of failed models, exchange learning resources and, wherever feasible, strengthen public health capacity through inter-institutional faculty exchange and joint research. We visualize creating a common platform to debate and analyze the challenges faced by public health, development of common as well as complementary sensibilities, exchange of ideas and researchers, and mapping the needs of these countries for developing a common plan of action to address public health challenges.

The portal takes forward the work of the Conference on ‘‘New Directions for Public Health Education in Low and Middle Income Countries” organized by PHFI in Hyderabad, 2008 that identified strategic pathways for building international partnerships to effect health systems capacity building through relevant public health Education, Research, Training and Communication.

The objective of the conference was to consolidate existing experiences with cross-learning through e-health and convergence of global synergies into an e- network for exchange and action that would contribute towards a strengthened public health system. The recommendation that emanated from the Conference was shared by PHFI at the 12th World Congress on Public Health in Istanbul, Turkey in end-April 2009 and found resonance among several partner nations and organizations as a critical step towards strengthening South-South alliances while benefiting from the experiences of Northern partnerships and networks.

Through the Public Health Global Network, PHFI is taking forward the agenda of using innovative e -networks to strengthen public health systems and build health workforce capacities. We believe this work will contribute significantly to better public health systems in many countries and hope that once the network is set up, it will attract deeper engagement from international stakeholders from a variety of developed and developing country institutions.