International Course in Health Development - Master of Public Health

Public health and health care in a changing environment

Health systems in developing countries face a wide range of challenges: inequalities in health and health care; the overwhelming problems posed by the HIV pandemic; health sector reforms; a call for equity and poverty reduction; epidemiological and demographic transitions with their double burden of disease; new partnerships with donors and other institutions through sector-wide approaches and Global Funds; the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals; and a focus on quality of services and evidence-based public health.

From this challenging and exciting context, a number of questions arise:

• How do health managers assess and analyse the health status of the population and the performance of the health systems they are in charge of?
• How can disease control officers retain the strengths of their programmes while moving ahead towards more integrated and sector-wide approaches?
• How does a regional or district manager retain and motivate health staff in isolated places in order to satisfy the needs of populations in an equitable manner?
• How does one plan, execute and evaluate programmes for a disease like HIV/AIDS, taking into account its multidisciplinary dimensions and gender-specific aspects?
• What could be the role of NGO’s, civil society and communities at large in this dynamic context of health reforms?

Providing an effective response to these issues requires well-trained professionals able to solve complex public health problems systematically and using a multisectoral approach.

Objectives

The ICHD/MPH is designed to develop the capacity of senior health managers to use an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to address health problems in their country.

A public health manager should be able to:

• Critically analyse the health status of a population and identify health needs.
• Appraise the role of health systems in terms of fundamental goals, functions, actors and performance.
• Identify priorities and influence effective policy-making and strategic planning concerning interventions aiming at improving public health, taking into account scientific evidence and good practice. 
• Implement and monitor health interventions by managing human, financial and logistic resources.
• Work professionally across different sectors, disciplines and institutional levels, with public and private actors, and through advocacy, communication and networking.
• Identify research needs, commission research, and critically analyse and use research results.
• Incorporate a pro-poor and equity approach in all actions.
• Continuously examine and critically reflect on own practice and values and adjust them accordingly.

Participants

This course is aimed at professionals working, or preparing to work, in a managerial capacity in health services at national, regional or decentralized district level.