SUMMARY OF THE CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

The Workshop was chaired by Dr. Adetekumbo Lucas, Professor of International Health at the Harvard School of Public Health in the United States. Opening statements set the tone of the workshop.

Dr. Gomo, Dean, University of Zimbabwe Medical School: "Discussion about an MPH Programme has been going on in the Faculty of Medicine for nearly 12 years. However, no regulation has been put in effect until this year. . . . I congratulate the Ministry of Health for identifying a need in developing manpower in the field of public health. and the Department of Community Medicine for standing up to the challenge of the needs of the Ministry and the nation."

Dr. Berkley, Assistant Director, Health Sciences, Rockefeller Foundation: "In addition to designing an appropriate curriculum, we must be concerned about good terms of service and career paths for the graduates of this programme.and be sure to attract the highest quality students."

Dr. Arevshatian, WHO Representative: "There are many resources that WHO is prepared to provide in assisting this programme. We welcome a much-needed public health training programme in this region."

Dr. Stamps, Minister of Health and Child Welfare, formally opened the Workshop: "The Masters in Public Health Degree should have been one of the first post-graduate degrees offered by the University of Zimbabwe, instead of the last. . . . We must be sure that at the end of two years we have MPH graduates who are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to function effectively in Zimbabwe."

Following the opening ceremony Dr. Sena, Provincial Medical Director for Mashonaland East, provided an overview of the needs assessment study that had been conducted among all the Provincial Medical Directors. He offered direct examples of the needs for this training among the current and future public health officials in the country. "We've recognized the need, but have been forced to send people outside the country for training, an expensive and slow process."

Mr. Tapera, Director of Health Manpower in the Ministry of Health, addressed the Workshop on the target groups who require public health training. He noted the priority group of 15 Medical Officer of Health (MOH) posts and 57 District Medical Officer (DMO) posts, virtually none of which are filled by Zimbabwean physicians with public health training. He further indicated a much broader group including Provincial and District Nursing Officers, District Environmental Health Officers, Health Administrators and others for whom MPH training would be appropriate. He described the Ministry's plans for providing training.

Dr. Todd, Chairman of the Department of Community Medicine, described the history of the MPH training programme effort and its current outline. He detailed aspects of the University regulations for the programme, in particular those pertaining to assessment of candidates. He noted that a satisfactory standard in continuous assessment must be obtained in order for candidates to proceed, and that a dissertation is a necessary part of the programme. He then presented a draft outline of the teaching timetable for discussion.

Dr. Binkin, Epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control, spoke of the CDC's field training programmes in other developing countries and indicated the agency's interest in collaborating with the Zimbabwe effort.

Dr. Bertrand, Professor of International Health at Tulane University School of Public Health, described other African models of public health training and said that the Zimbabwe effort was as far developed as any he knew in developing a genuine field-based programme that is a collaboration between a Ministry of Health and a University.

Following the opening day, the Workshop proceeded through a series of small-group sessions to work on the details of the proposed curriculum and large-group plenaries to hear reports and debate unresolved issues. At the end of the week-long session, the shape of a curriculum design emerged with a remarkable degree of agreement among all the participants.