Promoting Public Health Workforce Training for Developing and Transitional Countries: Fifty-Year Experience of the Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Jerusalem, Israe

INTRODUCTION The Millennium Development Goals, adopted by all United Nations member states, aim to promote health through eradication of hunger and poverty, reduction in child mortality and improvements in maternal health, and the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and other endemic diseases.1 These goals can only be realized through public health actions and services that will prevent epidemics and the spread of disease, protect the public against environmental hazards and injuries, promote healthy behaviors, respond to disasters and assist communities in recovery, and assure accessible quality health services. Yet there is a growing shortage of trained public health practitioners, not only in developing regions of the world but also in developed countries. To meet the challenges of Health for All in the 21st century, a welltrained and motivated health workforce that is oriented to meet the needs of the communities is essential for local and national health systems to function properly. Public health practitioners must also assume a role in narrowing health disparities between and among nations, communities, and neighborhoods.2 To ensure the delivery of essential services, the professional public health workforce requires up-to-date theoretical knowledge and practical skills in a broad range of core competencies, in light of the continuous evolution of the public health field.3 It is the goal of graduate institutions of public health to educate and train the public health workforce,4 and to strive to meet the motto of the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) of “strengthening public health by improving education and training of public health professionals for both practice and research” (). BRAUN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND COMMUNITY MEDICINE The Braun School of Public Health & Community Medicine, and its International Master of Public Health (IMPH) Program strive to improve the physical, mental and social welfare of the global community, with a commitment towards excellence in interdisciplinary training and research. As the first and largest school of public health in Israel, The Braun School has 50 years experience in training health and other professionals from Israel and around the globe. In recognition of our ong