Are Schools of Public Health Needed to Address Public Health Workforce Development in Canada for the 21st Century?

Abstract

In addition to establishing Canadian federal institutions for public health to work in cooperation with provincial and local health authorities, the infrastructure of public health for the future depends on a multidisciplinary and well-prepared workforce. Traditionally, Canada trained its public health workforce in schools of public health (or hygiene), but in recent decades this has been carried out in departments and centres primarily within medical faculties. Recent public health crises in Canada have led to some new federal institutions and reorganization of public health activities as well as other reforms. This commentary proposes re-examination of the context of public health workforce training and especially for schools of public health as independent faculties within universities as in the United States or, as developed more recently in Europe, semi-independent schools within medical faculties. The multidisciplinary nature of public health professionals and the complex challenges of the "New Public Health" call for a new debate on this vital issue of public health workforce development. Public health needs a new image and higher profile of training, research and service to meet provincial and national needs, based on international standards of accreditation and recognition.

Enumeration of the Schools and Students of Public Health in Canada

“…In order to distinguish public health as a unique discipline, the creation of Schools of Public Health entailed aggregating programs from these different faculties into a new academic unit. Tulchinsky and Bickford (2006) noted that merging the diverse academic departments, centers, and institutes would support the goal to create recognizable high-profile academic centers of excellence. The emergence of Schools of Public Health seems to reflect a growing demand and recognition of the distinct nature of public health.…”

Public Health Education in Europe: Old and New Challenges

“…The main alternative, namely a stand-alone faculty of public health, 12 is common in the United States for reasons related to the local history of medicine and public health. 13 Since the early 20th century, US clinicians, who obtained stronger licensing laws and other means of controlling the market for their services, were doing well with the fee-for-service payment system 9 and therefore had little incentive to go into public health.…”