Friends, colleagues, defenders of health!
This is my second communication as President of the Global Network for Academic Public Health (GNAPH). I believe the public health community is generous in spirit, rigorous in our pursuit of scientific fact, and committed to the people we serve and the planet we share.
I have experienced this generosity and solidarity many times over in the last month. You have rightly celebrated the work of Founding President, Laura Magaña, as our leader over the last five years. But you have been equally magnanimous in your great encouragement of me taking on this role as President.
GNAPH represents over 500 schools of public health worldwide, producing who knows how many future servants of the health of the public? 200,000 Master’s graduates? Serving, say, 3,000 people, each, at the local level? Or perhaps millions if they operate at a national or ministry of health level? We need to evaluate our potential reach and effectiveness. I suspect we lack this kind of information – a real weakness for a specialty that believes so strongly in data and impact. We will explore and reflect on this, I promise you!
My Lancet Profile
I am extremely grateful to the many colleagues who have sent me their best wishes and their support following the profile of me which appeared in the Lancet on 6th September 2025. Many colleagues observed the reflective work of the medical journalist Niall Boyce, who certainly captured my commitment to public health service, family, community… and music. Work, family and pastime – something we should all maintain in equal balance. Thank you so much, Niall!
GNAPH Programme for the Next Two Years
This month, GNAPH members agreed on an ambitious, but I believe, deliverable programme for the next two years. It will be published on the website soon.
We have convened an informal global public health coalition with the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) and the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI). Through our discussions, IANPHI has sponsored a meeting at the World Health Summit taking place October 12-14 in Berlin, Germany, on which we will report more next month. We are extremely grateful to Neil Squires, CEO, Duncan Selbie, President, and IANPHI for this initiative.
The WHO Roadmap for Public Health and Emergency Workforce
I continue to co-chair, along with the WFPHA, a partnership Implementation meeting on the competency and outcomes framework, developed from the WHO Roadmap on the Public Health Workforce, including the emergency workforce. We have also agreed on a two-year work programme, published here. We strongly recommend these documents to colleagues in all our regional associations, in national governments and ministries of health, and in individual schools and programmes of public health.
Regional Activities of GNAPH
During this month I have been privileged to be part of discussions in the South East Asian Region with colleagues from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and others as part of SEAPHEIN’s webinar series. I have also attended the advisory committee of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) as an alternate NGO member. I will be joining colleagues in Asia Pacific in November. I expect to join colleagues in all our regional associations in the next six months. I am working with colleagues in under-represented areas of the globe-particularly the East Mediterranean region and Canada, to determine how we can strengthen our public health academic community.
I wish all of you success in your ventures on behalf of the health of the public and planet. There has never been a more necessary time to be working in public health, and no more difficult time.
We must all support each other! Solidarnosi!
The opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of GNAPH or its members.
