TY - JOUR
T1 - Strengthening institutions for public health education
T2 - results of an SWOT analysis from India to inform global best practices
AU - Miller, Emily
AU - Reddy, Megha
AU - Banerjee, Preetika
AU - Brahmbhatt, Haley
AU - Majumdar, Piyusha
AU - Mangal, Daya
AU - Gupta, Shiv Dutt
AU - Zodpey, Sanjay
AU - Shet, Anita
AU - Schleiff, Meike
N1 - Funding Information:
We wish to acknowledge our gratitude to colleagues at IIT-Kharagpur and I3T in Kolkata, India. We are deeply grateful for all of our key informant respondents for their valuable insight and contributions to this important work. Finally, we wish to thank Harshini Devi Sampathkumar, an MSPH student at Johns Hopkins, who contributed to the study design and planning phase.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Background: Developing public health educational programs that provide workers prepared to adequately respond to health system challenges is an historical dilemma. In India, the focus on public health education has been mounting in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic is a harbinger of the increasing complexities surrounding public health challenges and the overdue need to progress public health education around the world. This paper aims to explore strengths and challenges of public health educational institutions in India, and elucidate unique opportunities to emerge as a global leader in reform. Methods: To capture the landscape of public health training in India, we initiated a web-based desk review of available offerings and categorized by key descriptors and program qualities. We then undertook a series of in-depth interviews with representatives from a purposively sample of institutions and performed a qualitative SWOT analysis. Results: We found that public health education exists in many formats in India. Although Master of Public Health (MPH) and similar programs are still the most common type of public health training outside of community medicine programs, other postgraduate pathways exist including diplomas, PhDs, certificates and executive trainings. The strengths of public health education institutions include research capacities, financial accessibility, and innovation, yet there is a need to improve collaborations and harmonize training with well-defined career pathways. Growing attention to the sector, improved technologies and community engagement all hold exciting potential for public health education, while externally held misconceptions can threaten institutional efficacy and potential. Conclusions: The timely need for and attention to public health education in India present a critical juncture for meaningful reform. India may also be well-situated to contextualize and scale the types of trainings needed to address complex challenges and serve as a model for other countries and the world.
AB - Background: Developing public health educational programs that provide workers prepared to adequately respond to health system challenges is an historical dilemma. In India, the focus on public health education has been mounting in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic is a harbinger of the increasing complexities surrounding public health challenges and the overdue need to progress public health education around the world. This paper aims to explore strengths and challenges of public health educational institutions in India, and elucidate unique opportunities to emerge as a global leader in reform. Methods: To capture the landscape of public health training in India, we initiated a web-based desk review of available offerings and categorized by key descriptors and program qualities. We then undertook a series of in-depth interviews with representatives from a purposively sample of institutions and performed a qualitative SWOT analysis. Results: We found that public health education exists in many formats in India. Although Master of Public Health (MPH) and similar programs are still the most common type of public health training outside of community medicine programs, other postgraduate pathways exist including diplomas, PhDs, certificates and executive trainings. The strengths of public health education institutions include research capacities, financial accessibility, and innovation, yet there is a need to improve collaborations and harmonize training with well-defined career pathways. Growing attention to the sector, improved technologies and community engagement all hold exciting potential for public health education, while externally held misconceptions can threaten institutional efficacy and potential. Conclusions: The timely need for and attention to public health education in India present a critical juncture for meaningful reform. India may also be well-situated to contextualize and scale the types of trainings needed to address complex challenges and serve as a model for other countries and the world.
KW - Capacity strengthening
KW - Education
KW - Healthcare workforce
KW - Human resources
KW - India
KW - Public health
KW - Training
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U2 - 10.1186/s12960-022-00714-3
DO - 10.1186/s12960-022-00714-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 35183208
AN - SCOPUS:85125003979
SN - 1478-4491
VL - 20
JO - Human resources for health
JF - Human resources for health
IS - 1
M1 - 19
ER -