ICPH began to offer Diploma and (MPH) programs in 1996 and graduated its first class of students in 1998. To date, 373 persons have graduated from the MPH program, with ICPH continuing to admit students yearly.
ICPH admits students from a range of disciplines, with physicians, dentists, veterinarians, nurses and midwives studying side by side with other health professionals, nutritionists, engineers, economists, school teachers, and students who have science and social science ’Bachelor’s degrees (see sections on students and alumni). This ensures that teamwork and inter-sectoral collaboration are instilled in students early on and as part of the teaching process. This is also compatible with the principle that public health must be practiced inside and outside health services, including in school, community, and the wider society.
Aims and Objectives
ICPH offers the MPH program as part of its overall aim of contributing to health improvement and system building by upgrading and strengthening the conceptual, methodological, and practical capacity of Palestinian health researchers and professionals and improving public health practice.
The main objectives of the program are:
- To assist students in developing a foundation of concepts, methods, and competencies necessary for rational and effective public health practice, and relevant to the needs and aspirations of the Palestinian community.
- To equip students with the conceptual, analytical, and technical skills required to identify health-related problems, design interventions to address these problems, and monitor and evaluate the results of these interventions.
- To enable students to approach health-related problems with an appreciation of the broad determinants of health, including the social, political, and economic determinants in addition to the biomedical ones.
- To enable students to approach health conditions and services with the notion of inter-sectoral cooperation as an essential component of system-building.