Why mph program

You know but doing that course helped me to be both task orientated and people orientated. A significant specific change was made by a graduate who, as country manager of a national disease program, tackled human resources policy change by negotiating with the Ministry.

Through this process, he facilitated realignment of employment conditions for different cadres of workers, thereby removing competitive conflict and rationalizing functions KIT-Graduate3 :. Previously we had two types of employees. One type was contracted employees, which was contracted for Ministry of Public Health only for Global Fund implementation project, but now I merged the government system and Global Fund, something like vertical system was there, but now I made a unified system for all [national program] staff ….

Enhanced leadership was strongly acknowledged by the graduates in the following ways: graduates took the opportunity to act as leaders, accepted assigned leadership roles, were recognized as exercising leadership, and had the confidence to work from competencies developed during the program to enhance the quality of their leadership; it was also implied that leadership involved an improved capacity for vision on the part of graduates.

There was also evidence that MPH graduates were expected to be able to lead and that they were being fast-tracked into such positions because of their MPH qualification. Interviewees for this graduate described how he worked to convince hospital staff of the importance of public health at the regional level and represented a large NGO at the national level in debates, influencing policy and teaching authorities KIT-Graduate1, KIT-Peer1, KIT-Supervisor1.

Team leadership capacity was acknowledged by SOPH-Graduate3 who stated that she was now able to lead a team, which in her view was the result of specific modules in her MPH; her team leadership capacity was supported by her supervisor SOPH-Supervisor3. SOPH-Graduate5 who manages an HIV prevention intervention working with political, religious, community, and traditional leaders felt himself to be able:.

And it is going on without any problem. The same graduate was modest and did not feel himself to be a good leader but identified himself as a problem solver, dealing with different stakeholders.

Enhanced leadership was not only identified in higher echelons but was acknowledged in a range of levels in the system. Impact through enhanced leadership was therefore evident at multiple levels, ranging from team to overall organizational level. Apart from impacting as managers and leaders, a number of graduates from the sample had initiated notable innovations in their workplaces, some with national reach, while others focused on their facility or region.

So … I talked to some of my teachers and colleagues here in x and we established an addiction and AIDS research center. So it consists of several researchers from several universities and organizations and hospitals. So she was able to set up, for example gender mainstreaming, going to partners, working out opportunities of linkages and programming that could be supported by other partners ….

Certain graduates seemed able to exercise a high level of self-efficacy as individuals, but their training seems to have offered them the necessary strategies and problem-solving skills to recognize opportunities and undertake innovative actions. A substantial number 12 out of 17 of graduates were involved in training in their own or related organizations, as well as in community contexts; in both, they provided mentoring and in-service capacity building.

That so many graduates were positioned to pass on to colleagues what they had learnt in the MPH was to some extent an unexpected impact: it raises the importance of relevant MPH training to an even greater level.

A graduate nurse KIT-Graduate7 appointed as administrator of a national training institution discussed her ability to argue for and promote a revised curriculum which had by then been accepted nationally; she attributed this to her MPH noting:. My interactions with my colleagues have also changed and I have more or less become like a master trainer. KIT-Peer3 reported that another graduate runs workshops, refresher training, and sessions on new guidelines for regional and provincial managers and other people.

A further example is KIT-Graduate1, who trained in the workplace around the public health perspective. At a less formal level, about half of the sampled graduates stated that they had grown into providing a mentoring role to younger colleagues, researchers, and students, and both peers and supervisors corroborated this; furthermore, some peers and supervisors mentioned this, without the graduate having mentioned it.

Supportive leadership orientated to building capacity, initiating and running training, problem solving as a way of building capacity, and inspiring and mentoring others were all deemed important and valued impacts. Many participants attributed these skills directly to their MPH programs. The mid- and high-level professional roles played by graduates meant that they were often involved in advocacy to others in the health system as part of health system reform or improvement.

A medical doctor who had changed role from surgery to national country coordinator of a particular disease control program was described by his peer as follows:. Another competence is my ability for advocacy … For example, I actually head a training institution and sometimes we do need-assessment. Which means you actually have to go, to sit and to talk and to appeal to people in order to be able to get whatever we need to get, and I advocate in that like.

He was also commended for his ability to pitch his approach without regard for his own status. In other words, they become partners in health care, assessing their needs, involving themselves in decision-making, planning, and evaluating the care received. In these data, community engagement is articulated as understanding different aspects of a community, interacting with them appropriately and strategically, and communicating and undertaking social mobilization at different levels.

In almost all graduate interviews, community involvement was mentioned and often echoed by either peer, supervisor, or both. Others implied understanding community hierarchies, identifying gatekeepers, being able to communicate and plan with community, and developing community ownership SOPH-Peer5 but also involving other groupings, e. So what we did we got in touch with the chief KIT-Graduate1.

For some, engagement was achieved by finding specific groups, e. One graduate KIT-Graduate1 , involved in the oversight of hospitals in his country, spoke of the demand on him to mobilize communities and demonstrated recognition of some key elements thereof, such as community entry skills and trust building; again, he attributed his skills to training at KIT.

Interestingly, staff at an institution was also seen as a community , and they were encouraged by a graduate to participate in order to get buy-in, as is observed by a supervisor KIT-Supervisor7. For one graduate, this involved much more engagement with the public health management community KIT-Supervisor3. Some graduates mentioned prior experience in community engagement but asserted that the MPH program strengthened these skills by helping to:.

Some worked more indirectly, for instance, by transmitting community perceptions to colleagues SOPH-Graduate2. In discussions of community involvement, linking with other players such as health centers and NGOs was very often mentioned, as was the ability to communicate at different levels of the health system. A graduate with psychiatric training is described by his supervisor as playing an important role with regard to addiction treatment, through communicating with community organizations and community leaders KIT-Supervisor5.

Another graduate SOPH-Graduate2 explained how he stepped into the role of identifying perceptions of communities and translated them into health promotion campaigns and messages, be it for cholera or malaria; he was appreciated for this by his supervisor:.

Social mobilization was a practice which many of the graduates seemed to take seriously, but it was the attitudinal and process-related aspects of it which were given greatest endorsement in these interviews. The peer of SOPH-Graduate3 described how she led the process of mobilizing awareness of reproductive health problems in the community, noting that she had remained active even after her retirement:.

Both MPH programs included training in qualitative and quantitative research, as well as a thesis. Two graduates were engaged in PhD studies KIT-Graduate5 and SOPH-Graduate6 and saw research as a long-term career trajectory while SOPH-Graduate1 was working at an advanced level within a national research institute and was at the time involved in a randomized control trial on gender-based violence in schools.

A large proportion of the sample seemed to consider that research should be operational and used to inform public health action, although one graduate KIT-Graduate3 was engaged in a biomedical study on malaria prophylactics.

Different types of research were reported including qualitative research based on:. Large-scale drug efficacy studies were under way with KIT-Graduate3 serving as principal investigator; SOPH-Graduate4 was involved in baseline, mid-term, and final evaluations of a nutrition intervention while SOPH-Graduate7 engaged regularly in desktop research which informed work at the local government level.

Others were providing a training and mentoring role in research at their workplaces KIT-Graduate5 or a formal teaching role in institutions of higher learning SOPH-Graduate1. It was apparent from those we interviewed that workplace context, although not the key topic of these findings, exerted some influence on their potential to impact: some graduates experienced extremely challenging situations such as complex political conflict and resultant resource shortages, which seemed stressful but motivating.

Others pointed to certain workplace facilitators of their impact. Challenges varied widely: in the case of KIT-Graduate3, having studied away from his conflict-affected environment for a year, his peer spoke of him as being able to see the possibility of peace and prosperity, which ministry colleagues could not see KIT-Peer3.

Other graduates cited demotivating situations, such as workplaces which could not accommodate their changed capacity; this resulted in resignation and transfer of some graduates KIT-Graduate2, KIT-Supervisor2. Managing institutional conflict was mentioned by KIT-Peer7 as a challenge, while another graduate cited an equivalent organization which has seven or eight people performing the role he performs alone SOPH-Graduate2.

In one instance, gender discrimination had only recently started to shift, as a result of a change in political leadership; elsewhere, the age of a woman incumbent was reported to have affected her acceptance in relatively high office. Some work contexts were regarded positively in terms of gender equality: SOPH-Graduate4 noted the increased involvement of men, for example, in family planning and HIV programs.

On the other hand, SOPH-Supervisor3 discussed factors that might affect a graduate being able to translate what they have learnt into their workplace:. The impact at the wider societal level was more difficult for all three levels of participant to identify, but some important impacts were described. Influence and impact beyond the workplace, at the wider societal level, was difficult to attribute to the graduate alone, as many influencing factors may have facilitated or hampered that impact.

A number of codes alluded to this influence and impact, including policy-level work, national reach, representing MoH, providing evidence for policy, health system action, and an intersectoral approach. Sometimes, the graduate was modest and it was the peer and supervisor who reported more enthusiastically, relating what the graduate had achieved. Some peers and supervisors stated that they were unable to comment on impact beyond the workplace, stating that they found it difficult to disentangle the influence of the graduate and other contextual factors.

A large number contributed to the development of national policies:. Others were involved in policy interventions related to specific programs, such as malaria, health insurance, capacity development, maternal health, tuberculosis, HIV and drug abuse, and tobacco control SOPH-Graduate2, KIT-Graduates1, 3, 4, 5, 8, This was often corroborated either by the peer or supervisor or both.

Some clearly attributed their involvement to the MPH:. Like I said there was skills and knowledge that I learnt during my MPH which helped me to like work with the different structures, starting from the community, the middle structures up to that higher level [SOPH-Graduate4 was discussing the advice provided to the MoH on child nutrition].

Some graduates were asked to contribute as members of national committees, for example, on health service integration KIT-Graduate2. She often gets invited to go and present and also to comment on the policy issues that have been developed and draft things. Some graduates appear to have gained authority in the external arena through their masters degree:.

We have the mission level, the government level and then the private sector financing. When it comes to the mission, he is the key person that we use in such programs KIT-Peer1. KIT-Graduate7, as administrator of a national training institution, had to deal with donors and project proposals, as well as staff and students. A number of graduates were involved in policy development at their workplaces, for example, developing an HIV workplace policy SOPH-Graduate7 , ensuring privacy of patients, and ensuring access to preventive services for health workers, or a policy regarding traditional birth attendants or working at a European NGO in a coalition with African NGOs KIT-Graduate4.

A substantial number of graduates were involved in teaching and training outside their organizations, as well as providing advice, for example, at local universities or colleges. KIT-Supervisor2 noted that the graduate contributed to training at five colleges, bringing learning from the MPH on advocacy into this role.

A potentially even greater influence was exerted through participation in institutional and country curriculum changes. SOPH-Graduate4 helped a local university to:. KIT-Graduate5 identified that no training on HIV existed for nurses in his country and decided to develop and conduct such training, in addition to conducting training for addiction nurses from all over the country.

A lot of nurses in x do not know how to deal with drug users. KIT-Graduate7 in her position as higher education institute administrative head established a Diploma in Public Health at the national level and noted that:. With the improvement in the curriculum, we know that our training activities have also improved and we put in other competencies in those curricula that were not really available in others because we observed it and we noted that there were certain things that were in the curriculum that were not really meeting our present-day health needs, public health needs … corroborated by KIT-Peer7, KIT-Supervisor7.

A number of graduates were clearly recognized as experts in their community, at work and beyond. They were asked for advice on public health issues, either in communities or through becoming an advisor or even a member of public health NGOs, committees, or coalitions, extending their impact beyond their usual work role. An intersectoral approach is taken to mean the integration of structural sectors of government or of system functionality rather than sectors in the sense of different population groupings.

Such an approach involves addressing factors which influence health beyond the clinical and are often poverty related, including the interplay of poor housing conditions, lack of water and sanitation, and economic factors which prevent the advancement of communities Schaay [ 12 ]. SOPH-Graduate2, working for an international agency at the country level, recounted how he was exposed to an intersectoral approach in the course of his MPH and had recently implemented this approach in the context of a workshop.

Another example is of a manager working in the welfare bureau of an Asian country, who had developed a partnership with a women empowerment unit and facilitated the interaction of the health and welfare departments KIT-Supervisor6.

A strong example of adopting an intersectoral approach was offered by a SOPH graduate working in the local government in Special Programs and implementing the Integrated Development Plan in the local government. This cross-sector department was responsible for ensuring that the needs of vulnerable populations were addressed in all sectors SOPH-Graduate7 ; although it was the local government function itself which promoted this intersectoral dimension, the graduate was a strong advocate thereof and worked on communicating the importance of the approach to other sectors.

Another example of intersectoral intervention was offered by SOPH-Graduate2, in his training of journalists to formulate health messages for the public, e. Furthermore, a supervisor talked of the graduate broadening malaria control beyond the Ministry of Health to include the agricultural sector KIT-Supervisor3. Although some of these items concerning impact at the national level have been previously mentioned, it is of interest that a number of graduates were involved in activities and roles with national reach.

For example, KIT-Graduate2 was a national consultant on a study investigating how the Global Fund supports sexual and reproductive health, as well as advising and helping in capacity building at the national level during major health reforms KIT-Supervisor2. Yes, because Health Management really prepares you as somebody who is going to be a manager in the sector of health, different aspects of it.

That there was such widespread evidence of national reach suggests some significant impact through the MPH graduates. Not only did graduates make an impact on their national context, but their activities were also constrained or supported by factors in the external context. Policy changes at the national level were mentioned as an opportunity for a graduate, where maternal and neonatal health became a new national focus, and according to KIT-Supervisor It was evident, from a number of data sets, that political will was an important external mediator of impact: a graduate complained about the non-recognition of the importance of research in the public health context where they worked, noting that, despite a change of policy in the treatment for drug users, there was no money to study this change of policy KIT-Graduate5.

The influence of politics in the working lives of graduates was mentioned, i. Political influence also manifested through policy changes in a donor country, meaning, in one instance, a drive for an NGO towards working more with the private sector, with which the graduate was unfamiliar KIT-Graduate4.

Other graduates explained that they were obliged to change the focus of donor proposals for political and donor-driven reasons. In another country, however, being a woman was regarded as an advantage, as the president had recently committed herself to empowering women KIT-Graduate7. Approaching vulnerable groups for HIV preventive services, i. A graduate from a high-income country KIT-Graduate9 mentioned difficulty in finding a job, as many people have an MPH, while at the same time economic constraints were cited as a contextual factor influencing impact.

Jackson State University. Johns Hopkins University. Kansas State University. Loma Linda University. Medical College of Wisconsin.

Mercer University. Missouri State University. Morehouse School of Medicine. Morgan State University. National University. New Mexico State University. New York Medical College. New York University. Northeastern University. Northern Illinois University. Northwestern University. Northeast Ohio Medical University. Nova Southeastern University. Ohio State University. Oregon State University. Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

Saint Louis University. San Diego State University. San Francisco State University. San Jose State University. Southern Connecticut State University. Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Temple University. Thomas Jefferson University. Touro University — California. Tufts University School of Medicine.

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University of Georgia. University of Hawaii. University of Illinois at Chicago. University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. University of Northern Colorado. Youngstown State University. Request info from MPH Baylor. Request info from MPH Simmons. Epidemiologists are disease detectives who investigate health-related issues and their frequency, distribution, and determinants, and discover ways to promote health for whole populations. Learn more about the Epidemiology MPH.

The UMN School of Public Health was the first university in the nation to offer this program focused on improving the health of women, children, and families. The program has two curriculum options, both of which can be completed online, in-person, or a combination of the two. This top 10 public health policy program trains students to become effective leaders and innovators in public health administration roles. Graduates learn how to improve and manage organizations and influence policy with a goal of improving public health.

Positions for graduates with this MPH degree are available in governmental agencies, non-profits, and businesses dedicated to improving public health. This program is designed for professionals with at least three years of experience who are taking or want to take on leadership roles while improving the health of populations.

Students work together to solve problems and gain experience. The program blends online and on-campus coursework and can be completed in 25 months. Better nutrition and better health help create stronger communities. Graduates help promote health and disease prevention at the individual and community level through good food choices. Working professionals with advanced degrees who want to advance their health care careers will appreciate this flexible program.

It is tailored to meet their schedules and individual educational needs. Students can take courses from across the University of Minnesota and can attend either online or in person.