by Erica De Vita and Filippo Quattrone,
PH residents University of Pisa, Italy
The 2019 edition of the Deans’ & Directors’ Retreat organized by the European Association of Public Health (ASPHER) was held in Erice (Sicily, Italy), from 26th to 29th of May.
The congress dealt with educational issue in some of the most relevant topics in public health such as vaccinology, digital health, climate change and workforce development.
A parallel session of the congress was dedicated to Italian schools of public health.
It was a unique occasion for Directors and Residents from all over Italy to discuss together about the status of public health education in Italy.
Erica De Vita and Filippo Quattrone, two members of SItI residents` committee (EuroNet MRPH member), had the opportunity to illustrate the expectations of residents and to propose some solutions
In particular five expectations were highlighted:
- Recognize that the status quo of public health education is unsatisfactory.
- Act for quality standards and homogeneity among all schools of public health.
- Promote collaboration among schools on public health education.
- Adopt innovative technologies and methods in public health
- Involve actively residents in their own education.
In addition, two improvements were proposed:
1) to write, with the contribution of all Italian school, a national core curriculum based on ASPHER list of core competencies for the public health professional.
2) to develop a e-learning portal where sharing courses among different schools. The proposals found the approval of the presents and the session closed with the institution of a working group, composed by directors and residents’ representatives, to promote the improvement of public health education in Italy.