2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Online Program

322754
A Pioneering Master of Public Health Program in India: Challenges and future prospects


Monday, November 2, 2015

KR Thankappan, MD, Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, India
The Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Trivandrum started India's first Master of Public Health (MPH) program in 1997. MPH was not a required qualification for any positions when we started the program. Despite this, the demand for the program increased subsequently and there are at least 25 other MPH programs in India now. SCTIMST is offering MPH program through its affiliated Institutions such as the National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE), Chennai under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore.  Major national Institutes such as the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, the national institute of mental health and neurosciences Bangalore, National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai in the public sector and several Institutes in the private sector including the public health foundation of India have started their own MPH programs.

Majority of SCTIMST MPH graduates are working with State or Central Government health departments and the remaining graduates work with non-governmental organizations and research organizations. All the MPH graduates trained at the NIE go back to their own state departments after the completion of training.

The major challenges for the program are recruiting and retaining good faculty, creating career paths for the graduates and establishing a public health cadre in State health departments. The new national health policy draft of 2015 mentions creating a public health cadre which is an excellent prospect for MPH training in India

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the impact of the first MPH program in India in terms of more such programs and the varying quality of new programs
  • Recognize the outcome of this MPH program.
  • Identify major challenges for the program’s growth and sustainability.
  • Assess future directions of the MPH program.

Learning Areas:

Other professions or practice related to public health
Public health or related education
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines

Learning Objectives:
Describe the impact of the first MPH program in India in terms of more such programs and the varying quality of new programs Identify major challenges for the program’s growth and sustainability. Assess future directions of the MPH program.

Keyword(s): Public Health Curricula & Competencies, Public Health Policy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I head the MPH program in India
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3205.1: Poster Session - Current Topics in Disease Etiology, Population Studies and Projects in Public Health Epidemiology