Abstract
Health systems globally are experiencing a shortage of competent public health professionals. Public health education across developing countries is stretched by capacity generation and maintaining an adequate ‘standard’ and ‘quality’ of their graduate product. We analyzed the Indian public health education scenario using the institutional and instructional reforms framework advanced by the Lancet Commission report on Education of Health Professionals. The emergence of a new century necessitates a re-visit on the institutional and instructional challenges surrounding public health education. Currently, there is neither an accreditation council nor a formal structure or system of collaboration between academic stakeholders. Health systems have little say in health professional training with limited dialogue between health systems and public health education institutions. Despite a recognized shortfall of public health professionals, there are limited job opportunities for public health graduates within the health system and absence of a structured career pathway for them. Public health institutions need to evolve strategies to prevent faculty attrition. A structured development program in teaching–learning methods and pedagogy is the need of the hour.
Highlights
NEED FOR REFORMS IN HEALTH PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION The role of health systems is extremely vital in the global movement toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC)
Like the general health workforce, the challenges that surround the public health workforce are centered around a numerical deficiency (6); competencies and expectations poorly suited to the health needs of the populations they serve (3); and a skill-mix imbalance against the background of negative work environments and a weak knowledge base (7).We analyzed the PHE scenario in India using the institutional and instructional reforms framework advanced by the Lancet Commission report (5) to understand the situation and advance the agenda of reforms for public health education in India
The Lancet Commission on Education of Health Professionals identified three key components of the education system: institutional design, instructional design, and educational outcomes (5, 19).We organized the search results according to the domains outlined in the Lancet Commission document (5)
Summary
The Lancet Commission Report, “Health professionals for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world,” brought together professional and academic leaders to develop a shared vision and common strategy for postsecondary education in medicine, nursing, and public health at the global level and free from the silos of individual professions (5). Like the general health workforce, the challenges that surround the public health workforce are centered around a numerical deficiency (6); competencies and expectations poorly suited to the health needs of the populations they serve (3); and a skill-mix imbalance against the background of negative work environments and a weak knowledge base (7).We analyzed the PHE scenario in India using the institutional and instructional reforms framework advanced by the Lancet Commission report (5) to understand the situation and advance the agenda of reforms for public health education in India. In the absence of any undergraduate course in public health in India, we included the undergraduate public health training as part of medical education (MBBS program)
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