Celebrating the 2026 Graduates in Public Health and Health Equity
On Friday, 28 August 2026, KIT Institute celebrated the graduation of 33 health professionals from 21 countries from the Master in Public Health and Health Equity (MPH-HE) and Master in International Health (MIH).
The festive ceremony, held at KIT Live Theatre in Amsterdam, brought together graduates, family and friends, KIT staff, teachers, partners and donors to celebrate the culmination of an intensive period of learning, exchange and professional growth.
From Brazil to Indonesia, and from Nigeria to the Netherlands, this year’s graduates brought an extraordinary breadth of professional experience, perspectives and contexts to KIT. Many arrived as already experienced health professionals and now they take the next step in their careers equipped with new knowledge, skills, networks and perspectives to contribute to public health and health equity around the world.
Throughout the programme, participants explored some of today’s complex public health challenges – from strengthening health systems and developing effective health policies to epidemiology, research and sexual and reproductive health and rights. With health equity as a central lens, they learned to critically examine public health challenges in their wider contexts and to use evidence to identify and contribute to possible solutions. Learning from the knowledge, experience and realities into the classroom by fellow participants was an important part of that process.
Looking Ahead
KIT Institute CEO Michel Farkas opened the ceremony, reflecting on the role graduates can play as they take their next steps in a rapidly changing global health landscape. He emphasised that addressing complex and systemic challenges requires not only technical expertise, but also critical thinking, an equity perspective and the collective efforts of many people.
“We do not claim that your time at KIT has given you all the answers or every tool needed to solve global health inequities,” he told the graduates. “What we hope is that we have planted a seed of knowledge, practical skills, and critical perspective.”
He encouraged the graduates to build on the connections and friendships established during their studies and to recognise the power of collective action in addressing complex health challenges.
Different Stories, a Shared Journey
Speaking on behalf of the graduating class, Thabiso Sibanda from Zimbabwe reflected on a year shaped not only by academic learning, but also by the experiences and perspectives participants brought from their own lives and professional contexts.
“Many of us have experienced health inequities not simply as something we read about, but as something we have lived, witnessed or worked alongside in our own communities,” she said.
Coming from different realities and professional backgrounds also meant learning from one another – through discussions, group work and sometimes disagreement – while adapting to life and study in a new country.
Thabiso reflected on the friendships and sense of community that grew during the year:
“ We came to KIT, carrying different stories and different dreams. Today, we leave with a shared story. And perhaps that is the real gift of this year. ” ”
Experienced Professionals, New Perspectives
KIT Education Team Lead Fernando Maldonado reflected on the wealth of professional experience participants brought into the classroom and the importance of reflecting critically on their own roles, assumptions and positionality.
As graduates return to previous roles or move into new ones in policy, research, teaching, healthcare and other areas of public and global health, they also take with them an international professional network.
“In global health, no one works in isolation,” Maldonado said. “What you take away from KIT isn’t just a set of new research or planning skills, it is a network of like-minded colleagues.”
The ceremony marked KIT Institute’s 62nd Master’s graduation and the second graduation of participants from the Master in Public Health and Health Equity. It was also the final graduation to include participants from the Master in International Health, following the merger of the MIH and MPH into the new Master in Public Health and Health Equity in 2024.
KIT Institute congratulates all 33 graduates and wishes them every success as they take their knowledge, experience, relationships and commitment to health equity into the next stage of their professional journeys.
Acknowledging Our Partners and Supporters
The Master in Public Health and Health Equity is organised by KIT Institute in collaboration with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU). KIT also works with OIG (Opleidingsinstituut voor Internationale Gezondheidszorg) in the training of Dutch doctors specialising in Global Health.
KIT Institute is deeply grateful to the foundations, institutions and individuals whose financial support enables health professionals from different parts of the world to study in Amsterdam. These include the Joint Japan–World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program, the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation, Contribute Foundation, TSH Talent Foundation, the Indonesian Government, and all those supporting participants through the KIT Fund.
More information
Learn more about the Master in Public Health and Health Equity and KIT Institute’s other study programmes
Support future public health professionals through the KIT Fund
Photo credits: KopiSusu Photo
