Role of Institutions in Public Health Education

Term Paper Institutional Economics
Deepak Kumar || 15HS20014
Role of Institutions in Public Health Education
Introduction
Health systems, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), include

organizations, people, and actions who/which intend to promote, restore and
maintain health. They influence the determinants of health and also are involved
with direct preventive and curative activities. For maintaining good public health, it is
of utmost importance to maintain a functioning health information system, to have a
well-performing health workforce, to have proper leadership and governance, and to
ensure accessibility to essential medical products, vaccines, and technologies. The
goal of public health is to improve the health outcomes for populations by making
people aware of the consequences of environmental hazards like natural and man-
made disasters, by promoting such behaviour that might reduce the risk of
communicable and non-communicable diseases and injuries and by ensuring that
quality health services are available to people. Public health and its sub-ordinate
organizations that promote public health to be able to contribute optimally to Health
Systems Strengthening (HSS) efforts, it is essential to assign specific roles and
responsibilities to institutions and agencies can contribute more efficiently to the
development of public health. For example, the US Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) is United States’ leading public health institution, which can
provide clarity regarding the role, contributions, and areas of priority focus for public
health. This, in turn, contributes mainly to USG’s global health systems strengthening
(HSS) efforts. It is essential for other institutions and agencies with specific health
expertise and mandates to come forward regarding the improvement in public
health. Few reasons that signify the role of institutions in public health are stated
below:
A) Ensuring availability of critical strategic epidemiologic information
Achieving positive health outcomes is not only about providing care to individuals for
treating existing illness. It is, more importantly, about delivering the right kind of
attention to the right people in the right way at the right time. This is only possible if
we have proper access to relevant and scientifically valid epidemiological data, which
form the basis of the decisions and policies which further affect all other aspects of
the more extensive health system. Such data genuinely help in formulating
appropriate health policies, design, and implementation of safe and effective
interventions and in deciding as to where and how to invest in human and financial
resources. Ministries of health (MOHs) need not only for compilation of data but
they need to convert those data into meaningful action, policies, and guidelines. This
is where institutions play the most crucial role. A clear priority for the public health
institutions is to work with MOHs for strengthen their ability and convert their
knowledge into effective policy and programs. Institutions reach out to individuals
and communities with the information and resources that allow them to both
understand and act on the health recommendations.
Public health is usually spread across numerous programs within the standard
configuration of MOHs and is often overshadowed by the more substantial curative
health responsibilities of the ministry. Thus, leadership, responsibility, and
accountability for management of critical health promotion and illness prevention
activities can be diffuse, unfocused or even lacking. This itself proves the importance
of having a dedicated national public health institution which plays substantial roles
in defining public health mandates, leadership and lines of authority. These
institutions also help in creating clarity of mission and focused objectives, creating an
independent national level entity that is better able to act in the best interests of
public health and to adapt to changing health priorities and be free of perceived or
real bias or conflict of interest. Institutions can also help in building a national
reference laboratory system.
B) Preparedness and strong response infrastructures
Public health institutions can also invest in building a strong response infrastructure,
including trained response staff, establishing laboratory capacity and systems for
collection and transfer of critical biologic samples, establishing defined mechanisms
for interaction with other parts of government and the international community and
providing official reports to the international community in keeping with
international health regulations.
C) Establishing strong public health laboratory networks
Well established public health institutions play a significant role in developing strong
public health laboratory networks. Public health laboratories are very essential for
conducting laboratory-based surveillance of infectious diseases and for providing
diagnostic services to confirm causes of outbreaks or to direct treatment of ill
individuals. Providing quality and reliable laboratory services, improving laboratory
bio-safety, and building skills in laboratory management are some significant
contributions towards strengthening public health systems. Public health institutions
should come forward to achieve and maintain a high degree of quality. They can
indeed help enhance the quality of laboratory services by providing technical advice
and assistance to establish quality assurance or quality control systems helping them
adopt and meet international laboratory standards.
D) Building a skilled and capable workforce
The success of any health system depends on the availability of an appropriately

trained, competent workforce. A primary focus of public health system strengthening
is to build the workforce that is needed to staff key national public health
institutions, conduct the core functions of public health and implement and manage
critical health programs. That is why it is of utmost essential to educate the future
workforce, and this job can be best performed by institutions that would have a long
term impact. Institutions can also conduct workforce capacity and development
programs that aim to improve and strengthen the knowledge, skills, and expertise .
Public health institutions have an important role to play in monitoring and evaluating
health care worker performance and devising approaches and aids to improve
performance and patient care. A prominent example of this is the development of
the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy and related efforts
to improve frontline health care worker performance. IMCI integrates case
management of the leading causes of childhood illness into a single treatment and
prevention algorithm designed to be implemented at the most peripheral levels of
the health care system.
E) Supporting critical operational/applied research
Though much is known about the prevention of several diseases, it is also true that
solution and action-oriented research continues to be needed, Research provides
reliable evidence upon which programmatic decisions and program performance can
be based. Improving the program performance today and addressing the emerging
health challenges of the future remains an essential function of public health
institutions. Institutions provide a wide range of relevant research activities
addressing the needs. The priorities for such research include identifying new public
health interventions and improving the existing ones. A significant contribution of
public health institutions is also to help countries develop their expertise and
capacity to conduct priority research activities.
Conclusion
This report shows the significance of public health institutions in promoting health
education. Several significant reasons as to why the institutions play a vital role in
creating awareness about public health have been listed in the above sections.
References
1. “The Role of Public Health Institutions in Global Health System Strengthening

Efforts: The US CDC’s Perspective”, Peter Bloland, Patricia Simone, Brent
Burkholder, Laurence Slutsker, Kevin M. De Cock.
2. “Who Will Keep the Public Healthy?: Educating Public Health Professionals for
the 21st Century”, Kristine Gebbie, Linda Rosenstock, and Lyla M. Hernandez.

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Term Paper Institutional Economics

Deepak Kumar || 15HS20014

Role of Institutions in Public Health Education

Health systems, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), include

B) Preparedness and strong response infrastructures

C) Establishing strong public health laboratory networks

D) Building a skilled and capable workforce

The success of any health system depends on the availability of an appropriately

E) Supporting critical operational/applied research

1. “The Role of Public Health Institutions in Global Health System Strengthening

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