Public Health Education in relation to capacity building – how does public health education strengthen public health work? Future perspective and challenges of public health education 8th Nordic Public Health Conference Reykjavik, 10 October 2005 Gudjón Magnússon, MD PhD Director Division of Technical Support - Reducing Disease Burden WHO Regional Office for Europe

Public health "Public health is the art and science of preventing disease, promoting health and extending life through the organized efforts of society.” Sir Donald Acheson

The role of schools of public health Train the public health workforce Promote through multi-purpose modules public health components into other disciplines Provide opportunities for updating the knowledge of public health professionals, high level decision makers and health managers

Public health knowledge Professionals will at any time possess only a very limited proportion of available knowledge Much of the knowledge will be superseded or reversed by new knowledge The nature of public health challenges changing rapidly Status of professionals should not depend on initial training alone

Understanding of the different settings Public health practitioners are expected to be effective in different environments Effective public health practitioners have to work with many different partners and paradigms Who employs the public health professionals and what are their agendas?

“Rapid changes in an already complex global health situation are taking place in a context in which the global public health workforce is unprepared to confront these challenges.” R.Beaglehole et al, The LANCET, 19 June, 2004

Core components in public health training Epidemiology and statistics Social and behavioural sciences Environmental health Management and administration Health promotion and prevention

Other components in public health training Health information/health intelligence International health Occupational health Health economies Health and human rights Field training

Biostatistics Environmental Epidemiology Health Social & Health Policy Communication Diversity & Cultural Proficiency Leadership Professionalism & Ethics Program Planning & Assessment Systems Thinking Interdisciplinary/Cross-cutting Competencies Health Policy Management Social & Behavioral Science Public Health Biology Discipline-Specific Competencies Interdisciplinary/Cross-cutting Competencies

Public health training Undergraduate Postgraduate Accreditation Research