BRAC was awarded the Gates Award for Global Health in 2004 in recognition of the extraordinary achievement in improving health in the developing world. We were singled out for our pioneering community based health programmes and influencing other health initiatives around the world.
BRAC’s community-based health programme currently serves 110 million underprivileged Bangladeshis through a network of health clinics, community nutrition centers and army of grassroots health promoters. Our services include women’s reproductive and maternal health programmes, improving neonatal and child health, HIV/AIDS prevention education, immunisation promotion, TB diagnosis and treatment, limb and brace centers, nutrition and reduce vulnerability to communicable diseases and common ailments.
BRAC, since 2004, had expanded its system of rural primary health clinics throughout the country and into urban areas as well. The urban project mainly aims to reduce maternal and child mortality in urban slums. Currently the project is providing maternal health services to 5.7 million women.
Since being awarded the Gates Award we have extended our healthcare initiatives beyond Bangladesh. We are now providing healthcare services in 9 other countries in Asia, Africa and Caribbean.
When we were awarded with the Gates Award we were in the process of establishing a school of public health to meet the future challenges of health and development of Bangladesh and the region. The award which amounted to $ 1 million was used to establish the James P Grant School of Public Health, thereby creating a state of the art public health curriculum and institution, training and educating 21st century public health leaders. Furthermore, the award money was used to initiate an endowment scholarship for the Master of Public Health (MPH) students. The cost of training public health practitioners at the school is one-tenth the cost of other international institutions.
In the last six years, the school has graduated close to 140 students of the highest global standards who are currently working in various international and national public health organizations with the full intent of improving the lives of the disadvantaged populations.
The school’s name honours the late James P. Grant, former Executive Director of UNICEF, whose relentless pursuit of a global revolution in child survival in the 1980s is a legacy the school aims to promote for global health for the 21st century. The school was founded in 2004 as a collaborative effort between BRAC University, BRAC, and ICDDR,B (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh). These three institutions offer dynamic and diverse learning laboratories for the school’s programmes. Based in Bangladesh, the school benefits from an unparalleled learning environment due to the magnitude and diversity of health challenges – from communicable, chronic to climate-related threats.
The school is unique in many different ways. In 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) featured the school as one of the six schools in the world promoting and practicing innovative higher public health education. In fact, Dr. Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, remarked, “In 2005, the [James P. Grant School of Public Health] opened its doors to the first batch of students in the MPH programme. And, it has already earned the reputation as among the one of the best Public Health schools in the world.”
The school has earned a name for its emphasis on community-based experiential learning. This has been made possible by the determination to pursue problem-based learning and the very fact that the school was set up by BRAC with active support from ICDDR,B. The access that the school has to BRAC and ICDDR,B and their facilities make it a real unique experience, which is hard to find anywhere else in the world. Its formal links with several of the top schools of Public Health in Europe and America has increased its credibility to a great extent. The links it is creating with several southern institutes will truly make it an example in south-north and south-south collaborations.
The flagship programme of the school is the Master of Public Health (MPH) course that it has been offering since February 2005. The Master in Public Health programme is a world renowned programme wherein students benefit from a comprehensive curriculum focused on core public health competencies. Emphasis is given to teamwork and interactive learning, students get a real life experience through the 6-month rural residency and direct attachments with BRAC and ICCDDR,B help the students to get a good grasp of the healthcare problems in the developing world.
Apart from the MPH programme, the school also offers over 50 short courses on health issues through its Continuing Education Programme (CEP). The programme is geared towards the development of health professionals, managers and practitioners in both the private and public sectors. Furthermore, the school fosters leadership in public health through Centres of Excellences, which bring together research, training and advocacy of specific topic areas including: Universal Health Coverage, Health Information and Evaluation, Gender, Sexuality & HIV/AIDS, Health Workforce, Bangladesh Health Watch.
From the outset the James P. Grant School of Public Health has been promoting not only the art of public health through education but also the science of it. Research is an integral part of life at the school. The school engages in cutting edge research which helps to understand the nature of health challenges and effectiveness of responses. Research is conducted in collaborations with local and international research partners and supported by bilateral, multi-laterals, research agencies and foundations.
Very recently, the James P. Grant School of Public Health with ICDDR,B support, launched its Centre of Excellence for Universal Health Coverage. Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Centre will encourage informed policy action for universal health coverage.
BRAC health programme’s unique strengths are our ethos and values, our total commitment to help the underprivileged, our success in scaling up major health interventions and demonstrating impact. All these are translated into our James P. Grant School of Public Health of BRAC University reaffirming our commitment to improving healthcare in the developing world.
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