BANGLADESH: University has big impact on public health

With a vision of a world where everyone enjoys the maximum potential of health, the James P Grant School of Public Health at BRAC University in Dhaka has made a significant mark in public health education in Bangladesh and in South Asia in general.

One of the first public health institutions in the region was the school of tropical medicine, set up in Kolkata in 1922. After that, similar institutions soon began to appear but, according to a WHO report, most of those in India and other South Asian countries failed to create a major impact because of "neglect, assignment of lowest priority, low prestige, poor quality of staff, and inadequate facilities such as transport and field practice areas".

To integrate community experiences in public health education, the Rockefeller Foundation helped set up a few schools of public health in Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Vietnam. But the number was much less than that needed to meet the demand.

To address the many problems public health is facing, and to test new teaching and learning methodologies, the Bangladesh company BRAC, one of the largest development organisations in the world, set up a school of public health in Dhaka.

Named after the late Executive Director of Unicef, the James P Grant School of Public Health is breaking new ground in innovative teaching - and in creating leaders for public health in developing countries.

During the school's establishment, BRAC collaborated with prestigious public health schools in developed countries, including Johns Hopkins and Columbia universities, to develop the curriculum. Guest professors from those schools also teach in some of the school's courses.

"The idea of setting up the school grew from BRAC's continued effort in alleviating poverty in disadvantaged parts of the world," says Professor AMR Choudhury, dean of the school.

Since its commencement in 2005, three batches of 77 participants from 14 countries have graduated from the school through its master of public health (MPH) programme. In the current academic year are 12 students from 11 countries of Asia, Africa, Europe and North America, and 18 students from Bangladesh.

While some students from the earlier classes have continued on to doctoral-level studies, most are now back in their own countries and have taken up jobs in various government, donor agency, media and non-governmental organisations.

The James P Grant School has several features which make it stand apart from its counterparts:

* It emphasises the art and science elements of public health. Apart from the MPH and the several other short courses the school offers, faculty members are involved in research on important issues that Bangladesh and other low-income countries face.
* The location of the school is in a developing country, thus providing a 'social laboratory' for teaching and learning.
* The fact that it is placed in a development organisation such as BRAC which is committed to helping the poor and the disadvantaged, and which tries to blur the artificial divide between health and development and its vast human, material and infrastructural resources.

In the December 2007 issue of the widely circulated Bulletin of the World Health Organisation, the school has been featured and the article states that, "[The school] is one of a new breed of public health institutions based in a developing country. It offers courses relevant to Bangladesh as well as international public health issues, and attracts students from both developing and developed countries."

The World Bank global health equity project has provided funding to:

* The Centre for Health Systems Studies of the school which has the potential to strengthen the health system in Bangladesh by informing, guiding and systematically evaluating policies of the health sector and to promote population health. In addition to launching the Health Watch Report, the centre has undertaken a number of research activities. Currently, a study is being done on the public-private partnership service delivery models in Bangladesh.
* The Centre for Gender, Sexuality and HIV-AIDS, established in collaboration with UNAids, is designated for research, policy, advocacy and training activities utilising state-of-the-art methods and technologies of teaching and learning, and providing unique opportunities in hands-on field experience in dealing with gender, sexuality and HIV-AIDS in Bangladesh and other developing countries.

Modern healthcare is about disease control and MPH is about learning methods and techniques to control disease at the grassroots levels in developing countries, including Bangladesh. The James P Grant School of Public Health, through its continued quest for success, should serve as a model for similar institutions in Bangladesh and in other South Asian countries.

mahdin.mahboob@gmail.com

* Mahdin Mahboob writes for Bangladesh Daily Star, www.thedailystar.net, where this article first appeared.