- Public health education is a primary public good and a sine qua non condition for eliminating health inequities.
- The new modality of double degree in Public Health is available to UNAM students and Family Medicine residents.
- The announcement was made known during the inauguration of the EPPENS Interprofessionalism International Congress in which 30 countries and more than 50 academic institutions participate.
The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is the largest medical educator in the country and has now announced a new double degree program to promote the specialty in Public Health. As a result of the change brought about by the pandemic, the need to have more doctors focused on this area was identified.
New support for medical students
With the above in mind, the rector of the highest house of studies, Enrique Graue Wiechers, announced the signing of two collaboration agreements between the Faculty of Medicine of the UNAM and the National Institute of Public Health (INSP). In this way, two new programs are established: one for double degrees and the other for training specialists in Public Health.
The agreements were signed by the General Secretary of the University, Leonardo Lomelí Vanegas; the General Director of the INSP, Eduardo César Lazcano Ponce; and the director of the FM, Germán Fajardo Dolci. Everything took place during the inauguration of the EPPENS International Congress Interprofessionalism that takes place in Ciudad Universitaria.
“This is a great achievement. The pandemic gave a clear example of the needs of this type of personnel: that they have management skills, epidemiological knowledge, management skills and, of course, be able to face the challenges that the country presents us with,” said Rector Enrique Graue.
He stressed that the programs crystallize an old desire to establish a strategy that strengthens public health. He stressed that medicine can no longer be seen in isolation, but rather as an interprofessional action.
On his occasion, the general director of the INSP, Eduardo César Lazcano Ponce, stressed the great regional and global influence that UNAM and that Institute have in the practice of public health, which during the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound transformation worldwide and has become a fundamental area of research and higher education.
“Public health education is today a primary public good and a sine qua non condition in the various efforts to eliminate health inequities.”
The agreement ratifies the central mission that teaching and research have in the search for social equity. In addition, the programs agreed with the UNAM will contribute to making the academic practice of the students of the Faculty of Medicine more effective to open horizons of a labor nature and to build a space to identify future leaders in public health.
How can I obtain a double degree in Public Health at UNAM?
As of the signing of these agreements, now the students of the third year of the Surgeon degree will be able to choose to combine their studies and those of teachers in Public Health at the same time to obtain the corresponding degrees.
Another alternative is for Family Medicine residents who are in the second year of the specialty. In their case, they will have the option of also studying Public Health studies simultaneously and at the end they will have a double degree from UNAM.
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