The major public health issues confronting us today are highly complex and require multiple levels of interventions. Public health specialists of the future will need to have a broader set of skills and perspective in order to lead the fight against the epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and threat of pandemics. Dean of the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health Professor Chia Kee Seng, highlighted this point when he conducted a tutorial with both faculty and graduate students of SSHSPH and Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) through the UBD Global Classroom, which allows for simultaneous video conferencing across Asia’s leading universities including the National University of Singapore, Seoul National University, South Korea, National Taiwan University (NTU), and the University of Occupational and Environmental Health in Japan (UOEH).
Prof Chia added, “The time has come for Public Health practice, research and education to embrace complexity and the approach of Complexity Science.” He identified Complexity Science as the multidisciplinary collaboration between medical and non-medical disciplines as well as within disciplines to better address the greatest health threat of the post-genomic era – the triple burden of the epidemic of NCDs, the threat of ID pandemics and the sustainability and efficiency of our healthcare systems. Traditional public health research focused on etiologic research or singling out of determinants of disease albeit interesting is no longer adequate to serve the end goal of meaningful real-world translation into programmes and policies in our fight against these health, economic and social threats.
Singapore’s Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, who attended the discussion as part of his visit to UBD hosted by Brunei’s Education Minister, YB Pehin Dato (Dr) Hj Abu Bakar Hj Apong and Vice-Chancellor of UBD, Dato Dr Hj Zulkarnain, also reaffirmed the importance of bilateral collaboration between Singapore and Brunei in public health research, education and training as health issues affecting one country will have an impact on the other.
The global classroom first started as an initial three-site conference by the three partnering universities, NUS, NTU and UOEH – all world recognized leaders in occupational and environmental health and such collaboration for teaching and research – for a module on international occupational and environmental health in 2006. To date, there are over 30 experts from different fields who have taught in the classes, and around 200 have participated from over 20 countries including Bangladesh, China, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania and Taiwan.
The global classroom, with the introduction of an international real-time interaction module, was aimed to provide an Asian perspective when the partners share their research findings and education with both academics and students. It also reaffirms SSHSPH’s pivotal role in contributing to public health education and training to neighbouring countries in the region through not only a broad-based curriculum and rigorous training which translate public health discoveriesand knowledge into action such as the School’s Master of Public Health (MPH) programme and participation in the NUS Initiative to Improve Health in Asia (NIHA) Healthcare Leadership Programme) but also through new technologies and innovative methods, such as the global classroom.