A representative of GHD| EMPHNET recently participated in the MED-HEALTH Second Study Visit and Third Steering and Technical Scientific Committee Meeting held in Pamplona, Spain at the Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA), March 8-10, 2017.

The MEDiterranean Public HEALTH Alliance (MED-HEALTH) is composed of a team of thirteen organizations (including GHD| EMPHNET) from six different countries in Belgium, Jordan, Palestine, Spain, Tunisia, and the United Kingdom, all working together towards the objective of strengthening the public health competencies of the South Mediterranean Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) to improve the region’s public health performance, employment and development perceptions.

MED-HEALTH aims to achieve this objective in three ways: first, it plans to prepare a highly-skilled and competent public health workforce by instituting a Master’s Degree Program in Public Health Management at six partner universities in the South Mediterranean - a program that uses a holistic and regional approach to public health and adheres to the educational requirements of the European Higher Education. Second, MED-HEALTH seeks to become a point of reference for both academic institutions and public health professionals by establishing an ePortal on Public Health Management for the South Mediterranean HEI’s. Finally, it aspires to ensure regional debate, project sustainability, and the harmonization of practices for the maximum benefit of the people of the South Mediterranean by implementing a regional health management network.

Thus, this meeting was organized by An-Najah National University, the coordinator for MED-HEALTH and the University of Navarra in Spain, to introduce the different features of curricula development and teaching materials for MED-HEALTH’s Master’s program in Public Health Management. These features included the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) allocation and implementation; learning objectives; modularization; students’ mobility and recognition of degrees and qualifications; and procedures for establishment of joint degree programs.

The three-day visit was organized into five sessions. The first session focused on the projects of international cooperation in UPNA. Hospital clinical management was the subject of the second session. The third session was a MED-HEALTH Project management meeting while the fourth session was meeting to discuss the suggested MED-HEALTH master’s program in Jordan, Tunisia, and Palestine. The fifth Session was Review of the Creation of a Regional Health Management Network.

It was at the fifth session that, GHD| EMPHNET’s representative co-presented the Plan for the Development of the Regional Health Management ePortal and Network. The representative outlined the objectives of this plan, which are in line with the objectives of MED-HEALTH, discussed the portal’s components, presented the steps to be taken to develop the portal. The representative also presented the plan for the development of the GHD| EMPHNET networking platform which will be developed to support the communities of FETP graduates and residents and provide their networking needs. The representative suggested that the same technical approach for the network be used to develop the network of the MED-HEALTH project.

The MED-HEALTH e-Portal is an online system that responds to the needs of public health management members, universities, researchers and professionals within the Mediterranean Region and the world. Members within this network will have the opportunity to interact, share knowledge, and seek opportunities where their skills are needed and best used to achieve positive change.

The representative made other recommendations to the proposed e-Portal that includes responsiveness to mobile devices, integration of the portal’s components, management and support, and sustainability issues.

Participants also included members of the MED-HEALTH consortium and associated partners and MED-HEALTH’s associated partners.

At the end of the meeting, there was a discussion on the MED-HEALTH upcoming activities, specifically the regional workshop planned to be conducted March 28-30, 2017 in Amman, Jordan.

‘This project is co-funded by the European Union. This publication only reflects the views of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.’