The mission of the department of Public Health is to advance efforts that benefit the health of populations in Malawi and the region through quality educational programs, research, public service, and policy development. It is responsible for coordination and delivery of undergraduate teaching in public health to medical and allied health sciences students, and postgraduate education for both masters and PhD students.
Currently, the department faculty has research expertise in the following thematic areas:
- Nutrition and early child development
- HIV (treatment and implantation science)
- Malaria (prevention, treatment and operational research)
- Reproductive and adolescent health
Role in Teaching
- Public Health for MBBS programme
Public health courses are offered across all the 5 years of training. The aim is to expose students to the concepts and practice of epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, nutrition, primary health care, evidence based medicine including research methods.
- Public Health for Health Management, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, and Medical Laboratory sciences programmes
Public health courses are offered mainly in the 3rd and 4th years of the program. The aim is to expose students to the concepts and practice of epidemiology, biostatistics, and research methods.
There is a strong PhD program which registers students in a number of areas of public health. This program targets students with career goals to attain the highest university academic degree in public health research, teaching or leadership.