Bachelor of Public Health
Health Sciences and Social Services - Promotive Health and Developmental Services
Purpose and Rationale
Purpose
The Bachelor of Public Health (BPH) is a distinct non-clinical health science degree that aims to equip graduates with the skills and knowledge necessary to work in the public health sector at local, national, and international levels. Graduates of the BPH program will have the opportunity to pursue various career paths such as public health policy work, employment in government, pharmaceutical or broader health industries, or entry into graduate entry clinical programs. The degree focuses on producing multiskilled professionals who are critical thinkers, experts in their chosen public health pathways, culturally and ethically competent, and effective communicators.
The main objectives of the Bachelor of Public Health program are as follows:
- Access, critically appraise, interpret, and apply evidence to inform health policy, practice, and systems.
- Understand human rights, justice, and equity frameworks for evaluating public health policies and programs.
- Propose, plan, apply, and evaluate creative solutions to public health issues.
- Identify the role of various determinants in designing and delivering public health programs.
- Understand different paradigms and methods in public health practice, evaluation, and research.
Rationale
The delivery of healthcare services in South Africa is closely tied to the availability of skilled and competent healthcare professionals. There is a documented need for a well-trained public health workforce in sub-Saharan Africa. BPH graduates can significantly contribute to addressing the shortage of healthcare professionals in South Africa and other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries.
Government and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) require professionals with public health policy skills to conduct needs analysis, develop policies, implement, monitor, analyze, and consult on public health policies. Public Health graduates are sought after to collaborate with professionals from various fields to develop policies, programs, and research in partnership with different sectors such as government, education, transportation, and media. This collaborative approach may involve working with environmentalists, sociologists, demographers, laboratory scientists, and legal specialists.
Outcomes
- Access, select, critically appraise, interpret and apply best available evidence to inform health policy, practice and systems.
- Demonstrate an understanding of human rights, justice and equity frameworks as tools for evaluating the effectiveness of public health policy, programmes and practice.
- Propose, plan, apply and evaluate creative solutions to a range of public health issues relevant to their professional pathway.
- Identify the potential role and interface of political, cultural, social, behavioural and environmental determinants in the design and delivery of public health programmes.
- Describe the strengths, limitations and potential complementarity of various paradigms and methods as they apply in public health practice, evaluation and research. Critical Cross-Field Outcomes: The Critical Cross-Field Outcomes are embedded in the qualification and will be assessed appropriately.
Assessment Criteria
Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1:
- Retrieve and evaluate health information from diverse sources to inform and improve public health practice.
- Describe quantitative and qualitative techniques for data collection and basic descriptive analysis for reporting data.
- Critically appraise available information, synthesise it, and apply it to develop a proposed health policy.
- Reflect own values and assumptions regarding health, development, equity, and social justice in a global context.
- Critically reflect on own practice and identify strategies for professional enhancement.
- Analyse health systems, including their political underpinnings, and the role of politics and policy in shaping health and social care systems.
- Identify tools and approaches to improve population health and how public health is organised within health systems.
- Compare political and social systems to existing health and social care system structures, functions, and funding.
Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2:
- Evaluate the effectiveness of public health policy.
- Apply an understanding of human rights, justice, and equity in designing public health programmes.
- Describe the history and evolution of public health in country-specific contexts and how broad influences and social movements have impacted public health.
- Write an appraisal of public health practice in terms of human rights, justice, and equity.
Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3:
- Analyse various public health issues and propose solutions.
- Explain the importance of demographic and epidemiologic transitions in determining health outcomes at different levels.
- Evaluate existing solutions to health issues and suggest improvements.
- Design effective health promoting interventions using theory and evidence.
- Develop strategies for capacity building, sustainability, and appropriate technology transfer in public health projects.
Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 4:
- Identify emerging future health challenges and their determinants.
- Discuss social, economic, environmental, and cultural factors that influence health and cause inequalities.
- Apply principle approaches for health issues in selected populations.
- Identify issues of cultural context and ethical principles in data collection and interpretation.
Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 5:
- Compare the principles, frameworks, and ideological underpinnings of various disciplinary perspectives on global health challenges.
- Identify tools and approaches to improve population health and how public health can be organised within health systems.
- Examine public health values from different paradigms.
Integrated Assessment:
- Theoretical and practical components are assessed together.
- Modes of assessment include essays, literature reviews, reports, debates, case studies, oral presentations, group tasks, and reflective activities.
- Learning, teaching, and assessment are integrated.
- Assessment practices are fair, valid, and reliable.
- The integrated approach to assessment is incorporated into each module of the programme.
Qualification Details
- Type
- National First Degree
- NQF Level
- 07
- Min. Credits
- 360
- SAQA Source
- More Information
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This page includes information from the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) . Builtneat Pty Ltd trading as Study Start, has modified all or some of this information. SAQA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.