Public Health Degrees Equip Arab Students for Regional Concerns

Maryam Qaher wants to help people live long, healthy lives. A scholarship student from Bahrain at Qatar University, she is pursuing a bachelor's in public health with a concentration in education so she can do just that.

Public health is the science of preventing disease and maintaining and promoting health among the general population. Professionals play an active role in communicating important public health information to the local, national and international communities.

A high rate of chronic diseases like diabetes and risk factors such as inactivity and an unhealthy diet in Qatar and the Middle East in general, Qaher says, mean "there is a high need to study this major in order to increase awareness among people."

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Noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes are major public health concerns in the Middle East and North Africa, according to the World Bank and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. By 2025, the World Health Organization hopes to reduce premature deaths from these diseases worldwide by 25 percent.

Those are part of the problems Qaher is looking to fight. She chose her university because of its emphasis on a collaborative learning environment, experienced faculty and its study plan, which she says contains theoretical and practical courses. Abdellatif Al Husaini, coordinator for the public health program at Qatar University, says the school offers a Bachelor of Science in public health, with concentrations in health management and health education, and a Master of Public Health with tracks in epidemiology and health systems improvement.

Qaher's classmate Soughra Mohamed Mouemel, from Mauritania, is pursuing her bachelor's in public health with a concentration in management, which she sought due to the issues she witnessed in her home country. She says these issues involve communicable diseases like malaria, typhoid and meningitis, "in addition to food safety, drug safety, water quality and quantity, which are obviously controlling the burden of mortality and morbidity."

The program enabled her to participate in a compulsory three-month internship that was divided into two phases. The first was in collaboration with health care provider Hamad Medical Corp. and focused on health promotion, awareness and campaigns. These included campaigns such as "home safety" targeted at students in school and "healthy heart" that was targeted to people at food festivals and in malls.

"We were also sent to the health center in Doha into groups just to shadow what health care professionals, such as nurses, medical doctors and health educators, do and how they interacted with patients. Additionally, we were ... focused on primary health care as a main tool of prevention," such as early detection of breast and cervical cancer, tobacco cessation, premarital examinations and well visits, says Mouemel, who hopes to work for an international nongovernmental organization and address public health issues back home.

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The WHO estimates that there's a shortage of more than 4 million skilled community health workers worldwide needed to address public health issues like child mortality, poverty, AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

Mohammed Sarhan, a Palestinian with a bachelor's degree in dental surgery from Al-Quds University in Palestine, will be graduating with his M.P.H .from Birzeit University in the West Bank next June. Sarhan says he's interested in pursuing a career as a public health researcher related to his background in dentistry.

"There is a lack of research that addresses the oral and health problems among Palestinians despite the fact that oral health status has a big influence on quality of life," says Sarhan. "For example, highly damaged teeth can affect the aesthetic appearance of someone, which can affect his way of talking or socializing with others and it can add restrictions in his eating and food tasting process , which has been proven to be related to many illnesses. Also, the pain originating from dental problems will surely affect the daily life of anyone, such as less sleep or affecting their performance on the job or school."

There are many career paths available to graduates with a master's in public health, says Yousef S. Khader, a faculty member of the Department of Public Health, Community Medicine and dean of the Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences at Jordan University of Science & Technology. The school offers a Master of Science in public health with concentrations in health care administration, health education, maternal and child health, epidemiology and environmental health, Khader says.

Grads can work in international organizations on health programs, as researchers in health sciences and at hospitals as administrative and public health professionals. Khader says they can also work in academia, where they teach and train medical students and those in other health-related disciplines, and in the Ministry of Health.

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Laurie AbiHabib, assistant dean of public health and development sciences at the University of Balamand in Lebanon, said in an email that career paths also include working in psychosocial support programs; hospital administration and infection control; health and safety insurance; quality management; international organizations such as the WHO; disease surveillance; pharmaceutical, food and health industries; and NGOs. The school offers a Bachelor of Science in public health and development sciences, a B.S. in health promotion and an M.P.H. in community health.

After graduating from Qatar University, Qaher's goal is to return to Bahrain to work in a hospital in primary health care to help her community. She also hopes to be involved in the health promotion department, part of the Ministry of Health in Bahrain, as a health educator.

Qaher, who plans to pursue her master's and Ph.D. in public health, says a public health major is highly recommended for "people who have merit, competence, sincerity and a responsibility to maintain the health of others in all aspects."

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Anayat Durrani is a Los Angeles-based freelance education reporter for U.S. News, covering Arab region universities.