PGI Chandigarh concludes five-day global public health management program

Chandigarh: A five-day online E- international Public Health Management Development Program(e-IPHMDP) organised by Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, PGIMER, Chandigarh was successfully concluded.

Sponsored by Indian Technical Economic Cooperation(ITEC), Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India for 161 ITEC nations, the global program was attended by 119 participants from 31 nations namely Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia,Guyana, Iran, Jordan, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Morocco, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Oman, Panama, Philippines, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts & Nevis, Suriname, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine and Zambia. The program demonstrated the country's premium case practices in managing various health problems including the current coronavirus pandemic.

Dr Sonu Goel, Director of the program stated that this flagship program has built a capacity of 650+ senior level program managers, academicians and other public health professionals from 85 countries across the globe since its inception in 2016. "Every year the program was conducted physically where participants from across the globe visit the host country (India) to attend the program. Even in the pandemic era when such physical meetings are prohibited, we managed to organize the program virtually after the grand success of previous programs", he said. He further highlighted that there are very few programs of similar kind in developing countries which strengthens management and leadership skills for managing diverse challenges in public health.  Shri Somnath Chatterjee, Director (DPA-II), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India appreciated the sustained efforts of PGIMER in building mutual cooperation and establishing relations between ITEC countries. He told that this program is one of the very popular programs across 161 ITEC nations and has been instrumental in developing alumni networks among ITEC nations. Considering the high demand of the program among ITEC nations, he announced three more short courses on various domains of public health management and leadership to be offered by PGIMER in support by ITEC, MEA in the months of August till October 2021.
 
Dr Rakesh Gupta, Ex- Director Health Services, Punjab and President, SIPHER appreciated this important initiative and spoke about the importance of such a program in addressing public health challenges like COVID Pandemic. He praised the organisers for introducing the ‘fun with learning’ concept which is very useful in delivering the key concepts to senior professionals.  Dr.Kritika Upadhyay, Program coordinator shared that the diverse teaching methodology introduced in the program through short lectures, case studies, quiz, contests like voracious reader, socially active participant, best logo design, best selfie and tagline helped in better learning of key fundamentals of the program.

During the valedictory ceremony, a virtual cultural extravaganza was held wherein the participants showcased their country’s culture through folk dance, songs or reciting poems. The event ended with felicitation of participants. The participants also appreciated the program organizers for conducting a very useful, innovative, informative, knowledgeable and interesting program which they can replicate in their settings. They also requested organisers to conduct a similar program in their own country.The participants shared the action plan to be implemented in their own country or settings.