New Public Health Foundation of India
Dr. Ann DeBaldo, Associate Dean and Associate VP for International Programs, was recently honored as invited USF College of Public Health representative at the inauguration of the Public Health Foundation of India in New Delhi, March 28 & 29. Dr. Debaldo previously attended the first Public Health Consultation in New Delhi held by then Secretary for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Prasada Rao, September, 2004, as well as subsequent planning meetings arranged through the American Schools of Public Health, which has agreed to provide technical assistance. A recent Fulbright stay in India was devoted to furthering public health education and research in India.
According to Dr. DeBaldo, "This initiative not only marks an historical turning point in the improvement of health and quality of life for many millions of Indian citizens, but also heralds a new era in international collaboration in the global discipline of public health education and research. The new public health schools will require advice in curricular issues, capacity building and training for new faculty, as well as partners in world-class research projects and the USF College of Public Health stands ready to collaborate. A number of our COPH faculty members have already expressed their teaching and research interests through a survey conducted by ASPH and many opportunities will continue to become available for faculty throughout USF Health."
As the Honorable Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh stated at the inauguration March 28, "It gives me great pleasure to be with you at the birth of the Public Health Foundation of India. I commend all those who have worked with passion and commitment to create this Foundation. The importance of public health in India's development cannot be over emphasized. Good health is not merely a developmental resource, it is an inalienable human right of every citizen of this country. Every Indian has the right to demand and obtain essential preventive, promotive, diagnostic and curative health services. I applaud the splendid spirit of international cooperation that underlies this cooperative effort. I am confident that the institutions established by PHFI would build bridges with other institutions in many countries, to collaboratively share knowledge and collectively shape the future of global public health." (Abstracted from the comments of the Honorable Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh. The full text can be viewed at http://pmindia.nic.in/lspeech.asp?id=304)
The objective of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) is to build large scale human resource capacity in public health through its three pronged integrated charter of (a) establishing a network of ~5 world class, India-relevant schools of public health and strengthening some of the existing schools (see attached proposed network) (b) establishing standards for public health education through the formation of an accreditation agency and (c) serving as a policy shaping think tank to the government and private sector. The PHFI will be an autonomously governed public private partnership with government support, managed by a fifteen member governing board representative of multiple constituencies and will include such notables as vice-chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister T.K.A. Nair, former health secretary Prasada Rao, NACO chief Sujatha Rao, HoD Cardiology, AIMS, Prof K.S. Reddy and Head of Association of Schools of Public Health in US, Jim Curran.