Hungarian public health - ups and downs in the last 20 years

Abstract

Before 1990 in the era of ‘building socialism’, public health services in Hungary—similarly to the other Central Eastern European countries—were mostly organized following the Soviet model with a high priority on infectious diseases and carrying out authoritative hygienic and sanitary control measures. The concept of ‘new public health’ as a contemporary application of a broad range of evidence-based scientific, technological and management systems implementing measures to improve the health of individuals and populations became more and more widely accepted only after the regime change in 1989–90. Recognizing that the ‘hygienists’ are not adequately trained to perform high-quality public health services, the Hungarian Government initiated the development of the School of Public Health at the University of Debrecen in the framework of ‘Health Services and Management Program’ (1993–2000). The School served as the basis institute to the establishment of the first Faculty of Public Health in Hungary.1 At present, the Faculty of Public Health offers a rich variety of learning experience in the field of public health (BSc and MSc courses in public health, MSc in Health Psychology, MSc in Health Policy Planning and MSc in Complex Rehabilitation). Public health …