From the Missionaries to the Endemic War: Public Health Action and Research at the American University of Beirut

Abstract

Established in i866, the American University of Beirut has been involved in public health activities and epidemiologic research from its very beginning. The early missionaries who founded the University as the Syrian Protestant College had a holistic perspective of health. With the end of the first World War, a more secular environment at the University encouraged the development of community-based field projects and led, eventually, to the establishment of the School of Public Health in I954. The endemic war in Lebanon, starting in 1975–1976, has provided this School of Public Health an opportunity to be actively involved with various projects involving government and private agencies. The School has shouldered various responsibilities in public health and, at times, has played an important role in the shaping of public health policy. Over the past decade, within the academic environment of this School, teaching, research and public health practice have received equal emphasis. The experiences during the endemic war emphasize the need for a more active participation and a higher degree of concern by public health professionals in the issues and problems of the endemic wars of the Third World.