The aim is to train specialists to contribute to the determination of public health policies, which Antonio Almeida Dias considers an added value for public bodies, municipalities and the government.
The first degree in public health will open in 2024 at the Instituto Superior de Ciências, in Paredes, to respond to the need shown by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the head of the institution.
“It is an innovative course, such higher education that did not yet exist in Portugal,” explained Lusa, President of the Cooperativa de Ensino Superior Politécnico e Universitário (CESPU), which is part of the Instituto Superior de Ciências, where the course will be taught in partnership with the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto. .
With only 35 vacancies available, the three-year course, recently approved by the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Agency, will welcome its first students in the 2024/2025 academic year at the Instituto Superior de Ciências, in Gandra, Paredes.
“There was indeed a long history in which public health was part of our education, but it was integrated into other courses of study,” said Antonio Almeida Dias, explaining that all of the Institute’s health science-related courses already included some training in this area.
However, he adds, “the pandemic has awakened the need for specialized and more comprehensive training in this field.”
The aim is to train specialists to contribute to the determination of public health policies, which Antonio Almeida Dias considers an added value for public bodies, municipalities and the government.
To date, there have been only two types of public health training. Or the second and third courses (master’s and doctorate), or specialization in the medical field, ”explained the head of CESPU.
He added that senior public health technicians who graduated from the new degree will also be able to work in integration with physicians specializing in this field, noting that it “will add more response,” because it is “another way to actively participate in public health.” .
