Introduction to Public Health
Public Health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities. This work is achieved by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching diseases and injury prevention and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious diseases. Public health is basically concerned with protecting the health of entire populations. These populations can be small as a local neighbourhood or as big as an entire country or region of the world.
The main aim of public health professionals is trying to prevent problems from happening or recurring through implementing educational programmes, recommending policies, administering services and conducting research in contrast to clinical professionals like doctors and nurses who focus primarily on treating individuals after they become sick or injured. Public health also works to limit health disparities. A large part of public health is promoting healthcare equity, quality and accessibility.
Few lines about Bachelor of Public Health (BPH)
The Bachelor of Public Health is a 4-year undergraduate programme that is divided into 8- semesters and deals with the concepts of public health. The course will train the students in areas such as human health, diseases, health and nutrition, public health policies, communication skills, environmental health, health economics, etc.
The main aim of the course is to train students and turn them into health workers. The course is responsible for developing a skilled workforce of public health workers in the nation. The course covers a broad spectrum of the sub-disciplines such as community health, environmental health, behavioural health, mental health, reproductive health, etc.
Eligibility for Bachelor of Public Health (BPH)
The students who have completed PUC or 10+2 with PCB or CBZ from recognised board are eligible to apply for Bachelor of Public Health (BPH) course. Some times some colleges will also accept the PUC or 10+2 students from any stream for this course.
Admission Procedures
The eligible students can join the BPH course via two modes of admission processes. The first one is through the merit admission process and second one is the direct admission process.
1. Merit Admission Process
There are many reputed educational institutes that conduct institution-based entrance exams for admission to BPH course, such mode of admission is called merit-based admission. Every college will have some limited number of merit seats that are offered under merit quota. The eligible students are required to appear and qualify the institution-based entrance exam course in order to get merit seats. The main idea to conduct merit seats is to filter out the serious and hardworking students from non-serious ones. The students who have qualified the institution- based entrance exam are allotted these merit seats based on their marks and rankings. The fees are generally nominal for merit quota.
2. Direct Admission Process
The students can also take admission to BPH course by another mode and such mode is called direct admission process. Under this mode of admission, the students are given direct admissions under management quota to their desired colleges. The main advantage of this mode is that the students are not required to apply for any institution-based entrance exams. Another advantage is that the students can choose their desired colleges and take admissions in those colleges by booking their seats even before the starting of the academic year. The interested students can contact Galaxy Educational Services for more details about direct admissions.
Course Curriculum
The students of BPH will be studying the following subjects during their course duration.
| Sl. No. | Subjects of Study |
|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to Public Health |
| 2 | Human Biology |
| 3 | Epidemiology |
| 4 | Biostatistics |
| 5 | Demography |
| 6 | Environmental Health |
| 7 | Social & Behavioural Health |
| 8 | Occupational Health |
| 9 | Infectious & Chronic Diseases |
| 10 | Public Health Nutrition |
| 11 | Women’s Health |
| 12 | Child & adolescent Health |
| 13 | Health Systems Management |
| 14 | Health Economics |
| 15 | Health Education and Communication |
| 16 | Public Health Policy |
| 17 | Public Health Ethics & Law |
| 18 | Public Health Informatics |
| 19 | Global Health |
| 20 | Ageing of Population |
| 21 | Disaster & Emergency Management |
| 22 | Monitoring & Evaluation in Public Health |
| 23 | Public Health Project Management |
| 24 | Public Health Leadership & Managing Healthcare Organisation |
| 25 | Recent Developments in Public Health |
Career and Scope
The BPH students have ample career opportunities, they can join hospitals, clinics, community health centres and many other NGOs in India and abroad after the completion of their degree. If they are interested in higher studies they can join a master's programme. If they are interested in research then they can join to PhD and take up research in the field of public health. If they are interested in detailed study of the subject then they can join M.Phil programmes. The BPH students after completion of their master’s can also join as lecturers in various colleges to earn decent salaries. They can take up voluntary services towards improvement of public health by joining non-profit organisations and NGOs.
Job roles available for BPH students
Some of the job roles are:
- Scientific Officer
- Healthcare Consultant
- Medical Advisor
- Public Health Specialist
- Community Activist
- Health informatics Specialist
- Epidemiologist
Salary and Emoluments
The fresh Bachelor of Public Health (BPH) professionals will be earning around 4 lakhs to 6 lakhs per annum. The experienced professionals will be earning around 6 lakhs to 8 lakhs per annum. The salary depends upon the location and recruiters.
Top Organisations hiring BPH students
Some of the top organisations hiring BPH students are:
- HelpAge India
- CRY
- UNICEF
- Adani Foundation
- Infosys Foundation
- Reliance Foundation
- Wipro Foundation
- The Clinton Health Access Initiative
- Tata Foundation
Final Lines
The bachelor of public health (BPH) students are witnessing a lot of job roles and careers in this field in the last 5 years. The increased awareness about the health in the society has created room for more skilled professionals in the field of public health. Many organisations are coming forward to take philanthropic initiatives towards the deprived people of the society. They require skilled BPH professionals to execute their initiatives effectively.
So, there is a huge demand for jobs in public health. These organisations are paying decent salaries for skilled professionals and are also providing good career growth opportunities for the bachelor of public health (BPH) students. The students with a passion to serve the society can join the BPH course and do their bit to society through various philanthropic foundations.