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Programme Overview

There is urgent need for public health expertise in Guyana. Guyana’s severe shortage of trained public health professionals is a major challenge to managing, sustaining, and advancing systemic structures for control of communicable and non-communicable diseases. The University of Guyana (UG) Faculty of Health Sciences has a Department of Public Health, but it teaches only undergraduate students, and the only public health credential that UG offers is an Associate Degree in Environmental Health. There are currently only two epidemiologists trained at the doctoral level and fewer than a dozen persons with Master of Public Health (MPH) degrees within the public health system.

 

Mission

The University of Guyana MPH Programme seeks to prepare public health professionals and researchers to be leaders and innovators dedicated to improving the public health and preventing disease and disability in an environment rich in learning, discovery, and service.

 

Vision

The University of Guyana MPH Programme will produce a new generation of public health professionals focused on the health of the people of Guyana and the Caribbean region.

 

Programme Goals

The MPH Programme will aim to:

  1. Maintain a high quality programme that addresses public health issues through an internationally accredited curriculum comprised of globally relevant core competencies as well as elective courses and practicum experiences that can be tailored to local health needs.
  2. Employ Programme faculty who reflect the public health needs of and expertise appropriate for Guyana. Faculty will have advanced degrees in medicine, public health, epidemiology, health services administration, and other relevant subject areas.
  3. Contribute to improved epidemiology, surveillance, and administrative effectiveness of the Ministry of Health (MOH), centrally and in regional health centres, by providing training to MOH leaders and staff members.
  4. Produce increased numbers of individuals with the MPH degree and expertise working in the field of public health by recruiting and enrolling up to 20 students into the Programme annually.

Work with the Ministry of Public Health and other potential employers to plan and maintain a career structure for placing and retaining MPH graduates in public health leadership roles.

 

Programme Collaborations

Guyana is one of only two western hemisphere countries in the US-funded Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) initiative. As a result of this initiative, the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. have funded a collaborative agreement (CDC-RFA-GH12-1208) with the University of Guyana, Vanderbilt University (VU) and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) to address these issues through the development of a Master of Public Health programme.

The UG MPH Programme benefits greatly from committed engagement with established US academic universities with proven track records in public health education and curriculum development. VU and UCSF are academic partners for the Programme in its quest to educate, train, and empower a new generation of public health professionals. Renowned public and global health teaching faculty at both universities are committed to and experienced in training future leaders and scholars in global public health.

VU’s MPH Programme has educated public health epidemiologists since 1996, with a focus on clinical epidemiology and biostatistics. It has recently launched a VU MPH Global Health Track based, as the proposed Guyana Programme will be, on ASPH’s new Global Health Competencies. The UCSF Master of Global Health is a degree programme for students or practitioners in health science or related fields who wish to achieve mastery and leadership skills in the emerging field of global health. More than 70 faculty members from UCSF’s four professional schools and the UC Global Health Institute teach and mentor the students, emphasizing hands-on global health practice.

Each MPH core course has been developed by a pair of Lecturers, one from the University of Guyana or Guyana Ministry of Health and one from VU or UCSF. MPH courses are delivered primarily by the Guyanese Lecturers.

 

Tuition & Fees

Tuition is $1,000,000 Guyana dollars per year. This is comparable to other professional degrees at the University of Guyana, and is significantly lower than tuition rates at other Caribbean institutions for similar degree programmes. Students currently working with the Guyana Ministry of Health may be eligible for Ministry sponsored tuition aide.