by Team GHEP | Oct 21, 2024 | Blog
For a professional audience, the Fit and Fabulous Program (FFP) Community Outreach Project may appear as a straightforward initiative focused on addressing obesity and promoting healthy lifestyles. But behind the scenes, this project was a rigorous, collaborative effort that spanned multiple time zones, countless discussions, and diverse viewpoints.
Our team, comprised of PH360 fellows from different countries, managed the complexities of working across time zones, often scheduling meetings early or late at night to accommodate everyone. This logistical challenge was only the beginning. Each member brought their unique expertise, leading to constructive disagreements about the best strategies for the program. These moments became growth opportunities as we learned to navigate differing perspectives respectfully and open-mindedly.
The rigor of the project was evident in how we tackled the sensitive issue of obesity—considering cultural differences and ensuring our approach was inclusive and empowering. As Clinical Director, Tanya Judd-Barnes, DPM, MPH-c, provided essential insights into the health implications of obesity. Fatmata Bah, PhD, as Lead Project Director, helped guide our strategic vision. As Director of Community Outreach and Communications, Juhi Singhal, MA, ensured our messaging resonated with the community. As Director of Monitoring & Evaluation, Nathaniel McGuigan, BS, focused on assessing the program’s effectiveness. Sabrina Mansoor, BSc, as Director of Technology & Platforms Development, integrated technological solutions to enhance outreach efforts. Lastly, Saron Habtemichael, MBA, as Director of Strategic Partnerships, built crucial collaborations that expanded our program’s reach.
The development of the program involved deep collaboration and ongoing conversations. We found ourselves questioning and refining our objectives, revisiting community feedback, and constantly striving for improvement.
Moreover, the human element extended to the communities we served. During the community outreach, we met individuals who shared their weight and health struggles, reinforcing our mission’s importance. Their stories were a powerful reminder of the actual impact our project could have on people’s lives. Ultimately, the sweat equity we invested in FFP taught us that successful public health initiatives are not just about the numbers but the people behind them—both the team creating them and the communities they aim to serve.
by Romuladus Azuine | May 26, 2024 | Blog
Unfortunately, many graduates, after completing the degree, are unable to find jobs in public health courses. This practice is quite common, and many holders of a BSPH or an MPH and even higher degrees in public health remain jobless for over a year.
In this blog post, we will identify the unemployment problem among public health graduates and discuss some of the suitable solutions. We will also look further into the employment barriers and, most importantly, how specialized training programs, such as PH360, will bridge your graduation and employment.
These challenges and opportunities will give graduates a career map of how to secure meaningful jobs in public health.
The Unemployment Crisis Among Public Health Graduates
A substantial percentage of graduates in BSPH, MPH, and even doctoral studies remain unemployed for significant periods, some for even up to 1 year after graduating. These statistics are alarming because public health professionals are entrusted with the health of an entire community.
Even when COVID-19 has made public health a necessity globally, highly qualified professionals still fail to get the required jobs. This ultimately points to the gap between the need for public health expertise and the available job opportunities.
Reasons Behind High Unemployment Rates
Other reasons for the high levels of unemployment include the following:
Saturation of the Job Market
Over the last decade, the number of public health graduates has considerably saturated the job market. The competition is tight, with more candidates vying for a limited number of positions.
Lack of Practical Experience
A majority of academic programs focus more on theoretical knowledge than the practical application of skills. The graduates find that they are well-acquainted with the issues of public health but are grossly deficient in the practical aspect of the employment package valued by employers. This disparity in practical training factors in an unsympathetic transition into the real world of work.
Poor Networking Opportunities
Networking is at the core of job acquisition. Still, most graduates lack professional networks to facilitate job acquisition. Additionally, opportunities to meet industry professionals and potential employers are limited during academic programs.
Consequences of Unemployment
Long periods of unemployment come with significant stress, both mentally and financially. A general ill state of health may be compromised by feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, and possibly depression. In this case, there will also be financial distress from student loans.
The public health sector also suffers when qualified professionals cannot find employment. A shortage of skilled workers can hinder the ability of public health organizations to effectively address health crises and implement preventive measures. This gap in the workforce undermines efforts to improve community health outcomes.
The Need for Practical Experience and Skills
Nowadays, employers want to see the following in the candidates:
Hands-on Training
Public health is all about practical experience. To fill the gap between classroom training and work practice, the graduates need opportunities to apply their knowledge in the actual field and engage in professional training and community interaction projects.
Skills in Demand
Employers now need teams with unique skill sets that include data analysis and epidemiology, health communication, and project management. Graduates who possess these skills are in a better position to get jobs. Other soft skills in great demand in public health are teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving.
Bridging the Gap
Programs and post-graduation training initiatives will play a central role in helping graduates get jobs through the experience and practical skills they acquire. They shall offer structured hands-on learning through mentorship and professional development.
Introduction to PH360 Hands-On Workforce Development Program
PH360 is an answer to all the challenges faced by public health graduates. It helps graduates with adequate, practical experience, preparing them to land jobs in public health even in a competitive market.
PH360 offers public health training in a comprehensive approach that combines academics with practical training. It will thus provide practical learning through training on how to do it and real-life projects to give participants the ability to apply the learned material in real life.
The PH360 skill development program aims to link academic knowledge with practical health experience. The program aims to raise the employability of graduates by providing the skills and practice that employers demand.
How PH360 Helps You Get Jobs In Mental Health?
Hands-on Training
The course is highly practical, with students undergoing real-world projects to hone their skills. Thus, the practical approach helps graduates build a strong portfolio to prove their competency before employers.
Linking with the Industry
PH360 links in collaboration with different organizations and authorities at the governmental and nongovernmental levels whose activities are linked to public health. This brings about chances of internship, placement, and collaboration on different projects. This vital link serves as a gateway for the participants to get an easy reach to potential employers.
Career Services
The program is linked with detailed career services involving resume development, interview skills, and job search strategies. Modularly, the career services aim to equip graduates with skills on how to present themselves best before employers and be confident about handling and maneuvering the job space.
The program is thriving, with a majority of the graduates having been employed in the public health sector barely some months after leaving the course.
Conclusion
The unemployment crisis among public health graduates is a significant concern, but programs like PH360 offer a viable solution. PH360 equips you with the practical skills, industry links, and after-care career support that enables a graduate to have a seamless transition from academic training to professional employment. For those struggling to find jobs in public health, PH360 represents an open gate into a career of fulfillment and positive change.
Visit the PH360 website for more information.
by Romuladus Azuine | May 21, 2024 | Blog
The public health system is one of the most significant and rapidly evolving global health frameworks. In such a situation, it becomes difficult for fresh graduates to secure jobs in top public health programs, especially if they do not have any experience, an understanding of where to look, or how to look for positions. That’s where the Public Health 360’s (PH360) hands-on workforce development program comes in as a rescuer. It is a gateway for aspiring professionals to prepare themselves for careers and to work to get the job of their liking in the critical public health sector.
Want to know more about how this program can enhance your job prospects? Read ahead.
Why Pursue a Public Health program?
Public health programs, like PH360, offer much more than you would have learned in the classroom. This life-transforming experience will prepare you for a meaningful career in public health. Predominant number of public health programs offer graduate programs in public health such as masters and doctorate degrees. An increasingly number of universities are also offering undergraduate degrees. This means that the academic preparation for public health is covered. However, what is not often covered is how to convert the academic learning to employment opportunities. The employment opportunities are there, but there are no qualified hands to take on those positions.
The great advantage is the intensive skill development of fresh graduates.
Incredibly, you can apply theoretical knowledge to real problems in public health and learn more about data analysis, which is required in making public health decisions. Also, you get a chance to work on your communication skills to deliver complex health information in a manner that is understandable to the public.
Managing public health projects through the various stages enables graduates to acquire important project management skills: planning, execution, and evaluating impactful health interventions.
What’s more?
PH360 is a way to create and build professional relationships. With such experience, you can interact with professionals and mentors who will give you great career advice and opinions. PH360 fellows come from different parts of the world giving you an opportunity to work together with a global cohort that is not often found on your academic programs.
Most of the time, the network established becomes very important in growing your career and securing job opportunities after the internship. Besides, more public health sector opportunities are opened by participating in workshops, meetings, and other networking events.
The overall infrastructure of these public health programs is as broad and varied as the setting and content of the individual program itself. Some fresh graduates find themselves within government agencies, learning the ins and outs of public policy and program administration. Others may be working with community non-profit organizations, encouraging better health outcomes through education and advocacy.
How Public Health Programs Get You a Job?
Public health programs are a strategic career move that can greatly improve your job prospects within the public health sector. Perhaps the most immediate benefit you get is an improved resume.
In a very competitive job market, professional experience shows a potential employer that you have more than theoretical knowledge. This shows them you have practical skills and demonstrated commitment to public health.
Interestingly, our program, PH360, provides a real-life experience that is important for personal and professional development. With us, you work on real projects whose outcomes affect things. Such an experience is invaluable because you get a firsthand feel of the daily challenges and rewards of working in the public health sector.
Ultimately, you sharpen your problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.
Another advantage is that this experience can help you decide the career that suits you best. This will make you strategic in job searches and enable you to focus on opportunities that fit into long-term career goals.
Simply put, public health programs are a significant investment in the career of a student pursuing public health. The course prepares students more for employability in the real world by enhancing their résumé through practical experiences. Further, it provides a route toward permanent employment, which aids you in making calculated career choices based on real experiences.
How to Maximize Your Job Prospects with Public Health 360 Training Programs?
Public Health 360 Training programs are one of the pinnacles of career-focused training for students or fresh graduates in the field of public health. With the current design, Public Health 360 Training programs step into the gap between academic study and on-the-ground experience in preparing graduates and undergraduates alike for the challenges they will face in their public health careers.
An All-Inclusive Curriculum
A wide curriculum accompanies public health with Public Health 360 Training programs. It covers key competencies needed in the public health workforce. Such training considers areas of focus, such as epidemiology, biostatistics, health policy, and the practices entailed in community health. This ensures that you will be technically prepared for public health roles and stay ahead of the curve.
Hands-on Experience
The practical experience provided is enormous. You are put in place to use your academic skills to find solutions to complicated health problems. Hence, you gain enormous hands-on experience. These experiences allow you to relate your knowledge directly to solving actual problems and, hence, to an outlook for good judgment and self-efficacy in boosting professional settings.
Exceptional Job Opportunities
Public Health 360 training programs have been successful in job placements, where most graduates secure meaningful positions in public health settings a short period after completion. Some are even facilitated with career services such as building resumes, preparing for interviews, and placing them in jobs, giving you a higher possibility of employment.
The high level of training and exposure that emanates from the experiences makes it possible for most graduates to secure positions in public health, especially in their specializations.
The Takeaway Message
Public health remains one of the fastest-growing fields, with an increasing need for professionals capable of applying modern solutions to complex health issues.
“PH360 is that golden opportunity to step into a rapidly changing field—equipped and ahead of the others. In this way, the virtue of public health programs is gargantuan.”
The public health program experience is, therefore, not only a learning process but also a very important step toward a successful career. The experience gained from these programs provides you with the skills and knowledge you need to lead a successful professional life.
Still, more importantly, it provides insight into the opportunities for professionalism. Engaging deeply with the field under the guidance of hands-on experience, you understand your career aspiration and the dynamics in the public health sector much better.
So, if you envision that one day, you will make public health your career choice. Make the strategic move by joining the PH360 training program to bridge the gap between graduation and the first job.
by Juliana Schifferes | May 31, 2023 | Blog
The month of May every year has been dubbed Healthy Vision Month by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Related to the Healthy Vision Initiative, this month commemorates and brings to light the importance of healthy eyes. Eye health, regardless of whether one is born with intact vision or not, can have an intrinsic relationship to overall well-being, success and even brain health.
Do you have near-sightedness, far-sightedness or something more serious like glaucoma? Well, there is only one way to find out. An eye exam. According to the NIH (National Institutes of Health, US), 48 million people suffer from near- or farsightedness (or refractive errors); 3 million from glaucoma, approximately; 8 million from diabetic retinopathy (a complication from diabetes); and even more, implying a significant chunk of the population is at risk.
Barriers remain. Despite the wallet- and life-saving tendencies of eye exams to rule out dangers like untreated glaucoma, diabetes-induced blindness and near-blindness (legal blindness, often related to more common incidences like farsightedness and nearsightedness) the procedure is out of reach for many.
In many localities, a systemic lack of availability for eye care plagues towns and even nations, leading to disease and discomfort. While stereotypically this may occur in the developing world, it bears noting this takes place in the US as well.
With so many barriers to eye care around us, it bears noting what the social determinants of health are. The social determinants of health, in simplified form, are the conditions in which residents live, work and play. GHEP works to address the social determinants of health. One of these determinants is economic stability that enables healthcare access in the first place, another is the quality of healthcare.
Economic stability is exactly what it sounds like. Can one afford basic life essentials to survive and have a decent quality of life? Stability is not income-based, rather it is based on whether available resources correspond to current means. Translation? Economic stability depends on how much money you need to live the life you need–not the best life or the most ideal life, but the one where your health can still be supported.
Saving up for healthcare is not a problem of willpower. It is a problem of insurance. In the US, insurance is provided either through government or employer, and for people who do not have sufficient, or even any, insurance fall through the cracks. Amongst these populations are young people who are not yet at a state of employment that can provide for their needs.
Another issue that prevents access to good healthcare is simply logistical. Many doctors’ offices have long waiting lists to see patients, which means that many ill people, some of whom have multiple jobs, may miss narrow windows of opportunity for care. At the same time, eye exams at department stores exist for people without significant conditions and usually with the expectation that “patients” will become customers and buy eyeglasses.
As a young American, like those in my age group, I am fortunate in many ways. But in other ways, I envy many European nations where I could access healthcare subsidized or provided by the central government, such as the UK or Germany. I am just starting my career and experiencing what my world would like without insured healthcare, or healthcare with wide coverage in general. This includes the gallows humor joke about why dental and eye insurance are separate from regular insurance: “teeth and eyes aren’t part of the body!” Jokes aside, a sense of absurdity and callousness pervades the experiences of many Americans–as though they could pick and choose what body part falls ill first.
It is crucial to imagine a world where everyone could see clearly–literally–either in terms of their own personal health or policy needs. We only need a new pair of lenses to imagine the possibility of a health-driven, rather than paperwork- or profit-driven healthcare system. While doctors and insurance brokers deserve to earn a living, the welfare of their patients and the professionals who serve them should not approach a zero sum game in terms of profits and fees. But with worthy initiatives and caring stakeholders like you and I, change can become possible.
At GHEP, we are committed to making that world possible. We believe that if we support our Public Health 360 (PH360) burgeoning leaders, trainees in a program dedicated to the bridge between theory and academic practice, they will support structural and policy change in whatever field or nation they are working in.
Several of our graduates, in fact, are already making change; like Dr. Driss of Burundi, who manages community health workers in making community care accessible and affordable. While this appears far afield from policy change in the US, this relates to our training program’s strengths in imparting change globally and not just at our home base in the US.
You can join us as a changemaker and remedy injustice with us as a PH360 intern starting this summer. Join today and stand up to disparities home and abroad: https://globalhealthprojects.org/public-health-360/.
Sources
Eye Disease Statistics. National Eye Institute. National Institutes of Health. Updated March 2014. Accessed May 26 2023. https://www.nei.nih.gov/sites/default/files/2019-04/NEI_Eye_Disease_Statistics_Factsheet_2014_V10.pdf
Healthy Vision Month. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Updated December 19 2022. Accessed May 20 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth/healthyvisionmonth/index.htm
Social Determinants of Health: Economic Stability and SDOH. Updated June 2021. Accessed May 20 2023. https://www.cwla.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/SDOH-One-Pager-EconomicStability.pdf
