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Academics in Czechia eager to modernise public health education

Charles University, Prague, May 22, 2024

Concerned with the increasing demands and rapidly changing social, environmental and political contexts in which public health actors operate, has brought together numerous players in the field. Representatives from universities in Brno, Liberec, Olomouc, Ostrava and Prague, together with representatives from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the Institute of Public Health and the WHO recently at the Carolinum at Charles University.

With the goal to better prepare the next generation of public health leaders in the Czech Republic, academics discussed their vision of the public health graduate of the future, how to build on from their institutions’ strong traditions and to reinforce expertise in epidemiology and infectious disease management towards a comprehensive public health education offer that forms public health leaders that can effectively strategize, influence and deliver high quality and evidence-based public health services.

The roundtable, co-organised by Charles University and the WHO Country Office in the Czech Republic, was supported by experts from the Association of Schools of Public Health of the WHO European Region (ASPHER) and Maastricht University, and included introductions to tools and frameworks on the professionalisation of the public health workforce, the ASPHER core curricula programme, as well as practical examples of public health programmes from the University of Maastricht and Krakow.

The need and wish for stronger cooperation between academic institutions, government organisations and international entities was emphasized during the discussion. Participants agreed that interinstitutional and inter-faculty cooperation will help address the barriers and opportunities of education in the field of public health in the Czech Republic, including identifying key areas for improving and strengthening educational programs in public health, as well as to identify resources, both human and financial, that can support in this endeavour.