Framing public health education to meet the needs of professionals for war and peacebuilding: A commentary

Abstract

Public health plays a crucial role in restoring, protecting and promoting health of affected populations in times of war and armed conflict. Even though health effects of war are well explored, the development of competencies to address the public health impact had received little attention in public health curricula. We suggest building upon the WHO-ASPHER Competency Framework originally designed to strengthen Public Health Services in the European Region. It provides an already established framework for Schools of Public Health and additional public health organizations and, at the same time, can be extended to understand and prevent the political, economic, social, and cultural determinants of war.