The pull of public health studies.

News The pull of public health studies Public health has burgeoned over the past 100 years, from the study of tropical diseases in the 19th century to national public health systems after World War One and, more recently, to include international public health. Education has kept up with these trends, and today there are hundreds of schools around the world, many flourishing in developing countries. The main drive for students to come to this school is that the course is given in partnership with internationally prestigious schools, including Johns Hopkins, Harvard and so on. (ICDDR,B), on a field trip to rural Bangladesh to assess hygiene and sanitation practice during flooding. Both the public health school and the centre are based in the capital, Dhaka. Public health has become an attractive area for many students. Some come from the medical profession to join the growing ranks of those enrolling in courses, while others are from such diverse areas as computer engineering, nursing and journalism. " Public health is an excellent mix of health and social issues, " says Abebual Zerihun Demilew, an Ethio-pian student who just graduated from the James P Grant School of Public Health in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which is run by the world's largest development nongovernmental organization, BRAC (formerly the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee). The James P Grant School is one of a new breed of public health institutions based in a developing country. It offers courses relevant to Bangladesh as well as international public health issues, and attracts students from both developing and developed countries. " The main drive for students to come to this school is that the course is given in partnership with internationally prestigious schools, including Johns Hopkins, Harvard and so on, " Zerihun says, adding: " We are 25 students, 12 from Bangladesh and 13 from all over the world. Six of those are medical doctors. " Their countries of origin include and the United States of America (USA). Students on Zerihun's course are also attracted by the real-life experience of fieldwork. Public health schools have existed since the late 1890s. The first two, the Liverpool and London schools of hygiene and tropical medicine, were founded in the United Kingdom in 1898 and 1899, respectively. They studied diseases brought home by sailors returning from far-flung shores and the health risks that administrators , merchants and soldiers faced in the British empire's colonies and trading …