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Over the years, recruitment of other public health specialist staff to constitute the nucleus of other departments in the Institute started and the staff strength increased tremendously. Thus, the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine was constituted into the following units to reflect the various specializations: 1. Environmental Health 2. Epidemiology 3. Health Education 4. HEALTH SERVICES MANAGEMENT 5. Maternal and Child (Family) Health 6. Medical Statistics 7. Occupational Health 8. Social Medicine In 1978, the university senate approved the establishment of the College of Medicine from the Faculty of Medicine. As part of the collegiate system, the senate also approved the establishment of a Faculty of Public Health, the departments of which would be created from the existing units in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine during the first phase of development of the Faculty of Public Health. The Institute of Child Health and Department of Human Nutrition were also to be part of the approved Faculty when established. Thus, as part of the first phase in the evolution of the new Faculty of Public Health, the department of PSM, which had been in the forefront of teaching, research and service in Public Health for over five decades, evolved into the following three new departments in the year 2000:
HEALTH POLICY AND MANAGEMENT UNIT Clinical Epidemiology Unit Maternal and Child (Family) Health Unit Occupational Health Unit Social and Rehabilitative Medicine Unit 2. Department of Health Promotion and Education 3. Department of Epidemiology, Medical Statistics and Environmental Health. As agreed in 1978, the Institute of Child Health and the Department of Human Nutrition also joined the Faculty of Public Health. In the second phase of the evolution, there were plans that these nuclei departments would continue to grow and new departments would evolve from them. Approval was received from the NUC in April 2010 to split the Department of Community Medicine into the follow two new departments:
The Department of Health Policy and Management was inaugurated on 1st August 2010. The two members of the academic staff in the Health Policy and Management Unit of the mother Department of Community Medicine thus became the two pioneering academic staff of the new department. The students who had registered in the Department of Community Medicine for public health postgraduate degree programmes with specialization in Health Policy and Management (MPH<hp&m>) and the Master degree programmes in Health Services Administration (MHSA) also transferred to the new department.</hp&m> Rationale The morbidity and mortality rates of Nigerians are among the highest in the world as a result of the poor formulation of health policies, poor management of our meager health resources and the abysmal performance of our health systems. In order to redress the situation, the nation needs competent health systems researchers, policy analysts, policy makers, health economists, health service managers and administrators (to mention but a few), all suitably equipped with the knowledge and skills to perform maximally in a resource-constrained environment. The fore-going challenges constitute the rationale for the vision and mission of the new department of Health Policy and Management as described in section 2.
VISION, MISSION, CORE VALUES AND RESEARCH AGENDA Vision To become a world-class higher education facility for academic excellence in Health Policy and Health System Management targeted towards the attainment of more cost-effective and equitable health systems through the multi-disciplinary team work of public health, social and behavioural scientists. This is in keeping with the vision of the University of Ibadan and her College of Medicine. Mission To address the health needs of our country by strengthening the health systems through the resolution of major health policy and health systems management problems by original multidisciplinary research, advanced training for capacity development and service. Specifically this will be accomplished through innovation and creativity in the: i. Training and development of competent manpower appropriately skilled in health policy analysis and development, health economics, health planning and health systems management and administration. ii. Conduct of multidisciplinary health systems research of the highest quality into policy-related and management–related problems in the health system, and iii.Provision of excellent consultancy services in Health Policy, Planning and Management. Core Values The department will be guided by the core values of the University in dealing with the staff, students and stake-holders. Thus, the administration of the department will be characterized by the maintenance of integrity, transparency, fairness, accountability, respect for others and by the pursuance of excellence, innovation and creativity. Research Agenda The conduct of high-quality multidisciplinary collaborative research into priority issues in Health Policy and Management is a major preoccupation in the department. Currently, the staff and students in the department are involved in various research programmes all targeted at strengthening the health system and sub-systems. Major areas of research activity are on strategic and operational challenges in health care delivery including the following: - Quality of primary health services - Quality of curative and rehabilitative services - Audit of health care services - Supervision at the primary care level - Personnel management and inter-cadre conflicts - Operating management information systems - Operating of the referral system - Strategic and operational planning for PHC - PHC facility utilization - Management of essential drugs for primary care - The functioning of voluntary health workers - Evaluation of PHC programmes - Operations of the National Health Insurance Scheme - The economic evaluation of health programmes and services - Clinical epidemiology & control of tropical diseases - Prevention of violence against women especially among young female hawkers and apprentices - Prevention & control of sexually transmitted infections including HIV - Prevention of violence against women especially among young female hawkers and apprentices |
Department of Health Policy and Management
Dr. David A. ADEWOLE
Ag. Departmental Head
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH POLICY AND MANAGEMENT
In 1948 when the Faculty of Medicine was established, the concept of having an Institute of Public Health as a component of the Faculty was also established. The Department of Preventive and Social Medicine (PSM), one of the foundation departments in the then Faculty of Medicine of this University, was the first and only department of the Institute. This was reasonably so because of the staff and resources available.