INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH: New MPH Program a First for India

Abstract

Not often does a new degree program make headline news, but then, in India there is nothing entirely comparable to the new master’s of public health (MPH) program launched 19 January 2010 at Sri Ramachandra University (SRU) in Chennai. With environmental disease constituting roughly half the country’s total disease burden, India has a dire need of the expertise the program will develop with its focus on occupational and environmental health (OEH). “This program is the first MPH [in India] with an exclusive focus on OEH,” says Kalpana Balakrishnan, a professor of biophysics and head of the Department of Environmental Health Engineering at SRU. “These graduates will be trained in recognition, evaluation, and management of OEH risks to serve industry and governmental organizations in addition to assuming roles as teachers of OEH in [this and other] MPH programs.”