This section of PERC is currently under development. Check back for updates on international collaborations, a Global Health101 Curriculum Framework, and examples of implementation of the Clinical Prevention and Population Health Curriculum Framework abroad.
“The knowledge and skills of different kinds of health workers are determined by what they learn, so the organization and administration of the curriculum can be an important catalyst for change and innovation in health systems. Including a new course in a curriculum provides legitimacy to a subject or approach that can spawn changes leading to new disciplines, departments, schools and types of health workers, with huge impact on the practice of health care.”
The World Health Report 2006 - Working together for health
Chapter 3, “Preparing the health workforce”
World Health Organization
International Relevance and Usefulness of PERC
Globally, health service systems are searching for changes to cope with the resurgence of "old maladies," new health problems, higher costs of medical care, increasing health status gaps and disparities, and lack of an appropriately trained and fairly distributed health workforce. The identification of population health needs and their social-economic-cultural determinants is being stressed as a basis for interventions that could deal with the inequalities of health. There is also an increasing tendency to recommend that health care systems in diverse socio-economic situations of developed and developing countries be oriented towards social accountability and social justice.
These challenges require solid education and training in clinical prevention and population health for the medicine and public health workforce. The proposed Curriculum Framework developed by the Healthy People Curriculum Task Force offers a conceptual and comprehensive framework that could be used for a systematic analysis of its adaptation to different realities worldwide.
The Prevention Education Resource Center (PERC), with its reach and broad source of education materials, can be an essential tool of analysis and planning, of relatively easy access, relevant for clinical health educators of the different professions interested in curriculum change. The use of this tool could help meet the health care needs of particular countries with diverse realities and resources. The degree of usefulness will be determined by the appropriate adaptation carried out by academic institutions according to the health profile of their countries.
Jaime Gofin, MD, MPH
School of Public Health and Community Medicine
Adjunct Professor in Community Health
School of Public Health & Health Services
George Washington University