The second phase, now in progress, examines emerging trends in public health education across regions and institutions with a particular focus on curricular content. The third phase aims to align and assess programmes against the WHO Essential Public Health Functions Competency Frameworks to support efforts to harmonise the vocabulary and understanding of public health workforce competences globally.

In addition to updating the scope of the original WHO directory, this initiative recognises and documents the expansion of public health education worldwide. In so doing, it departs from the 1985 directory in several important ways:

Modern Online Directory

The original directory was produced as a printed book which limited its distribution, dissemination and ultimately its impact. The new ICAPHE Directory will replace the 1985 print edition with a fully accessible and searchable online platform.

Broader Public Health Field

The landscape of public health has broadened markedly since the last directory. One year after the production of the directory, the Ottawa Charter widened the field to include health promotion. More recently, Global Health, One Health, and Planetary Health have emerged alongside traditional public health sciences. At the same time there are the local contexts and needs that are integrated in many programmes, such as maternal and child health or disaster preparedness, which need to be captured.

Digital Delivery Models

Online and hybrid formats have reshaped education delivery and programmes may now be offered at a distance or through blended models, which the updated directory must reflect accurately.

Clearer Programme Classification

Although the original directory included programmes advertised as one academic year, it often listed short courses lasting only a few months and, in some cases, institutions did not offer a full year of training. We applied a twelve-month cut off because many master’s degree programmes around the world are structured with certificate or diploma exit points (or building blocks) which would otherwise inflate and conflate the number of programmes recorded. This created some challenges. For example, some Master of Health Sciences in the United States were found to be nine months in duration and therefore excluded. In contrast, eleven-month programmes were included, as holiday periods effectively extend them to a full calendar year.

Student and Community Focus

The 1985 Directory was quite explicit as to who its main target group was “The Directory is intended primarily for administrators and educators in the health field, and for health personnel interested in building upon their background of knowledge in public health.” As can be seen students and the broader communities we serve were not considered within the scope of the original directory which makes widening the intended audience an important part of our work. By having a searchable database on this website, we can help enable a broader range of stakeholders to identify public health programmes.

Variations in Public Health Terminology

One final consideration concerned how the term public health is understood across regions. To ensure global relevance, we applied a broad scope that reflects varied terminology internationally. In South America, for example, it is often termed collective health. In India and parts of South Asia, it is commonly called community medicine, and in South East Asia it may appear as community medicine or preventive and social medicine. In parts of Europe, terms such as social medicine hygiene and preventive medicine are used, and in some high-income settings the term population health is also applied. This inclusive approach enables us to capture the diversity of public health education and practice while respecting regional traditions and professional identities.