The harmonization of the medical speciality in Public Health in the EU countries--a challenge for the profession

Abstract

Facing the challenges for Public Health in Europe it is of importance to outline a common strategy for a European training programme in Public Health. At present the medical speciality of Public Health is strengthening its position in the EU medical specialist system. According to the present EU decision the speciality Public Health Medicine will be automatically recognized in all EU countries, i.e. a specialist trained in one EU country will be recognized as a specialist in all EU countries.1 As a consequence, Public Health today is one of the established specialities in EU. Thus, the need for harmonization of the specialist training is further emphasized. The objective of this paper is to discuss the process of harmonization of the speciality in Public Health in the EU countries. Public Health as a medical speciality focuses on the health of the population. In its broadest sense Public Health includes all measures taken in a society aiming at improving the population's health. The doctor who has specialized in Public Health Medicine uses his competencies to contribute to this. In 2008, EU recognized the speciality in Public Health in 21 member countries (Appendix 1). The exact name of the medical speciality Public Health varies between the different countries in EU.1 Besides Public Health the speciality may be named preventive medicine, social medicine or community medicine. Although there still are specific national authorities responsible for the qualification of medical specialists in each member state of the EU, the medical profession will have an important role in the development of the speciality. There are great challenges for the medical profession involved in Public Health work to develop and harmonize the speciality at the European level. We need to know what is meant by a medical doctor in Public Health in order to facilitate …