School of Public Health, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

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School of Public Health,The Chinese University
of Hong Kong
Multidisciplinary integration and public health
training Moving towards undergraduate public
health education

• Sian Griffiths, Josette Sin-yee Chor, Janice
  Yue, Fowie Ng

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What I will cover

• The challenges for PH
• Educational recommendations
• CUHK BScPH why we have started it and what we
  hope to achieve

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Current challenges for Public Health

• Responding to emerging threats
• Infectious disease
• Environmental hazards
• Obesogenic societies
• Ageing populations
• Systems reform and synthesizing public health and
  primary care approaches

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Recommendations

• Basic and ongoing training in infection control,
  fundamental epidemiology and public health
  principles for all healthcare workers
• HA should rapidly address the skills shortages in
  clinical infectious diseases and critical care
  medicine
• The Government should give a policy commitment to
  public health training and ensure that priority
  is accorded in the allocation of resources
• The Government should consider establishing a
  Hong Kong field epidemiology training programme
  as a means of rapidly establishing a cadre of
  specially trained infectious disease
  epidemiologists
• Public health training collaborations with
  Mainland China should be explored
• Report by SARS Expert Committee, 2003

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CDCs in China
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Primary care

• Decades of experience tell us that primary health
  care is the best route to universal access, the
  best way to ensure sustainable improvements in
  health outcomes, and the best guarantee that
  access to care will be fair.
• M Chan, 2007

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Integration of Personal and Community Healthcare

• Better alignment of a public-health approach with
  personal health services will achieve a better
  balance, but the balance since Alma-Ata has
  tilted towards personal health care at the
  expense of population health
• It is time to integrate personal health care and
  public health, and organise primary care on the
  principle of care for individuals in the context
  of an identified population over time. The future
  of primary care, and health care in general, will
  depend on how effectively primary practices
  achieve this community-oriented primary care
  approach and contribute to equity and social
  cohesion
• van Weel 2008 Lancet

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Primary Care in the Health System UK

• Local health services are managed by Primary Care
  Trusts(PCTs) responsible for populations of about
  170,000 people. PCTs are run by Boards of local
  professional lay people. They have three main
  functions
• Improving the health of the community, by
  assessing health needs, planning, tackling health
  inequalities, forming partnerships
• Developing primary care services, including
  medical, dental, pharmaceutical optical
  services
• Commissioning care for their populations, in
  partnership with primary care gatekeepers,
  creating competition among NHS hospitals and
  private providers to win contracts to provide
  care for their populations

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Darzi Review Key Points

• Create an NHS that helps people to stay healthy
• Our efforts must be focused on six key goals
• Tackling obesity
• Reducing alcohol harm
• Treating drug addiction
• Reducing smoking rates
• Improving sexual health
• Improving mental health

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Public Health and Primary Care
Personal health
Public health approach
Public health services
Primary care services
Secondary care services
Tertiary care services
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Who Is a Public Health Professional?

• A public health professional is a person educated
  in public health or a related discipline who is
  employed to improve health through a population
  focus.

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A sample of workforces with the potential to
influence determinants of health
Political and Global Leaders, Scientists,
Business Leaders, Civil Servants
Waste management professionals, Farmers,
Gardeners, Landscape Designers
Architects, Traffic engineers, Spatial
planners, Electricians, Plumbers, Builders
Restaurant owners, Caterers, Transport planners,
Teachers, Business owners/Employers, Engineers,
Scientists
Employers, Businessmen, Bankers
Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists, Carers, Social
Workers
Religious leaders, Local Leaders, School teachers
The Health Map. Barton Grant 2006 Based on a
public health concept by Whitehead Dahlgren.
The Lancet 1991
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Public Health Team

• Multidisciplinary team
• Engage people with various interests and talents
• Epidemiologist and biostatistics (mathematical
  modeling)
• Health educators (communication, program planning
  and teaching skills)
• Behavioral scientists (psychology)
• Environmental and occupational health
  specialists, infectious diseases (science skills)
• Health administrators (business administration,
  organization)
• Health policy analyst (law and ethics)
• Clinicians (primary health care nurses/ doctors)

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Competency Escalator
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Schools of Public Health Recommendation for
Access to Life-Long Learning

• Schools of public health should fulfill their
  responsibility for assuring access to life-long
  learning opportunities for several disparate
  groups including
• public health professionals
• other members of the public health workforce
• other health professionals who participate in
  public health activities

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Training

• Who can specialise?
• The higher specialist training programme in
  public health is open to both qualified medical
  doctors and those from other public health
  disciplines.
• How long does specialist training take?
• The typical training programme for specialising
  in public health is normally five years full
  time. This usually includes undertaking either
  one year full time, or two years part time to
  complete an academic course to provide the
  essential knowledge for the discipline

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UK Areas of Specialist Practice

• Surveillance and assessment of the populations
  health and well-being (including managing,
  analysing and interpreting information, knowledge
  and statistics)
• Promoting and protecting the populations health
  and well-being  
• Developing quality and risk management within an
  evaluative culture 
• Collaborative working for health
• Developing health programmes and services and
  reducing inequalities
• Policy and strategy development and
  implementation
• Working with and for communities
• Strategic leadership for health
• Research and development
• Ethically managing self, people and resources
  (including education and continuing professional
  development)

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Medical SchoolsRecommendation

• The committee strongly recommends that
• all medical students receive basic public health
  training in the population-based prevention
  approaches to health
• serious efforts be undertaken by academic health
  centers to provide joint classes and clinical
  training in public health and medicine

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Tomorrows Doctor-General Medical Council
(UK,1993)

• Recommendations on undergraduate medical
  education
• The theme of Public Health Medicine should figure
  prominently in the curriculum, encompassing
  health promotion and illness prevention,
  assessment and targeting of population needs, and
  awareness of environmental and social factors in
  disease
• Public health was relevant to many parts of the
  curriculum and should not be compartmentalized
  within a public health course

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Other Schools Recommendation

• All undergraduates should have access to
  education in public health.

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Be the One to Make a Difference
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Future Careers for Public Health Graduates
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Three Domains of Public Health
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Competency-Based Curriculum Design
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BSc in Public Health Process Model
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Public Health Jobs at Entry-level - Examples

• Government (Health Departments)
• Management trainees, hospital administrator
• Research scientist
• Executive officer
• Project assistant/ project co-ordinator/ project
  officer
• Non-Governmental Organisations
• Program coordinators of community projects
• Health educators in community health centers
• Health education teachers in schools
• Development and education officer
• Research and development officer

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Support from Senior officials
Professor Liming Li Vice President of Chinese
Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS)/ Peking Union
Medical College (PUMC) Chairman of the Ministry
of Education Steering Committee for Education in
Preventive Medicine, China
I would like to congratulate to The Chinese
University of Hong Kong for its exciting
launching of the BSc in Public Health, which is a
great news to Hong Kong and the Asia region. It
is generally recognised that public health in a
country symbolizes its development and
civilization, as well as the protection of
population health and quality of life. Government
commitment and law enforcement are just as
important as high quality professions who are
ready to serve. The BSc in Public Health is a
timely product of economic and health
globalization. Undoubtedly, it will have a great
influence on health protection and promotion in
Hong Kong.
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Dr York Chow, SBS, JP Secretary for Food and
Health, HKSAR Government
Hong Kong prides herself on her public
healthcare infrastructure of international
standard, and public health education at the
tertiary education level plays a key role in
sustaining this leading edge. The School of
Public Health of The Chinese University of Hong
Kong has long demonstrated her unfailing
dedication in providing comprehensive education,
nurturing talents and carrying out research of
high quality. The new Bachelor of Science in
Public Health Programme of the School will
further enhance competencies in various important
areas of public health in Hong Kong including
health protection, community healthcare and
health services. Its advent would mark another
important step towards improving public health in
Hong Kong.
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Mr Stephen Leung Country Manger of Pfizer
Corporation Hong Kong Ltd. Chairman of the
School of Pharmacy Advisory Board, The Chinese
University of Hong Kong
Congratulations to The Chinese University of
Hong Kong for launching the new Bachelor of
Science in Public Health, another new horizon for
CUHKs public health portfolio offering.
Health is wealth. Investment in health is an
investment in human capital. To maintain Hong
Kongs admirable healthcare statistics and
economic prosperity, we need to pay attention not
only to sick-care but also to health-care. Having
a good public health system is the key for our
future success and our gift to the next
generation. With experienced faculty experts
offering global perspectives, we are confident
that this new programme will add enormous value
to Hong Kong by developing our future
professionals in this important discipline of
Public Health.
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Dr Homer Tso Immediate Past Chairman of Hong Kong
Council on Smoking and Health
Public Health is the science and art of
preventing disease, prolonging life, and
promoting health through organised efforts of
society. It ahs roots in antiquity from the
beginning of human civilization and is now an
important concept representing a complete
physical, mental and social well-being of
mankind. I wish to extend my congratulations
to The Chinese University of Hong Kong on the
development of such a far sighted undergraduate
course, which will provide a broad and sound
foundation for those who are dedicated to devote
themselves to becoming professionals in Public
Health. In the longer run, we hope people from
all walks of our community benefiting when issues
such as AIDS prevention and anti-smoking are
managed in the hands of welltrained
professionals.
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Thank you!
Website http//www.sph.cuhk.edu.hk Email
address info_sph_at_cuhk.edu.hk