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College of Public Health

 

 

The study of public health is important for gaining knowledge about the general health of a population; and how this may vary with, for example, geographical location or socio-economic status. Thus, whilst physicians and clinicians treat individuals, public health professionals take a broader view of society as a whole. They look beyond single patients to see how the environment (including food and water supply, sanitation, occupational hazards and other problems), together with an individual’s behaviour (whether voluntarily or through economic necessity), can create problems through exposure to physical dangers, infection, toxic substances and so on.

It is not enough to accumulate information about threats to human health. This knowledge should be put to good use, by trying to improve the lot of the population through:

  • the education of the people, so that they are given the chance to take charge of their own destiny as much as possible; and thus, by maximising their well-being, minimise the economic and other costs in later life both to the individual and to society (this is the main emphasis of the University of Cambodia's undergraduate major in Community Health Education);

  • the formulation of relevant health policies and the design of health-care systems which are optimised to meet the predicted needs of a community, being relatively cheap and widely available as well as being geared to deal with the range of likely medical problems according to the latter's prevalence; and

  • the introduction of legislation to minimise the population’s exposure to environmental and occupational hazards.

Community Health Education, as one form of preventative medicine, is important because it gives the people a chance to take charge of their own destiny as much as possible; and thus, by maximising their well-being, it serves to minimise the economic and other costs in later life, both to the individual and to society.

Moreover, whilst physicians and clinicians deal mainly with individual patients, public health educationalists can take a broader view of society as a whole, and direct programs at the general population; or at targeted groups of individuals, based on where the latter live, or on their occupation or other aspects of their behavior.

The aim of the Community Health Education program is thus to provide students with the relevant general medical knowledge; and the means to translate this information into cost-effective action. In this way, graduates of this program will be able to participate in efforts to help the members of the community improve their own situation.

The College of Public Health is also developing of programs in Social Work. As societies get more complex and complicated, so the pressures on individuals and their families become more varied and less predictable. In Cambodia, the situation is compounded by the country’s recent tumultuous history and its after-effects, including the grossly-skewed distribution of economic resources. Based on the “person-in-environment” paradigm, we aim to produce generalist social work practitioners with the skills necessary to help improve the lot of those members of the community who, through force of circumstances, have developed interpersonal and other problems.