School of Medicine

Health-related positions in the United Nations (WHO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNAIDS and others) and unilateral international agencies (USAID) almost always require or prefer candidates with MPH degrees.   There is a growing need for MPH trained personnel as administrators, researchers and assessment specialists in hospitals and other health institutions.  In the private sector pharmaceutical, health insurance and biotechnology companies are hiring public health professionals. Sometimes MPH graduates start their own businesses.
Increasing numbers of universities, both in Kazakhstan and outside Kazakhstan, are hiring MPH graduates for teaching, administrative work and as researchers.  The MPH is also a gateway degree for MPH graduates who want to pursue a doctorate in a public health field in universities outside of Kazakhstan.

MPH Program Aims
Engage students through transformational education and training in internationally-accepted best practices in population-based approaches to address health, health conditions and disease determinants for the prevention and control of disease, disability and untimely death.

• To provide graduates with competencies in public health sciences to produce health and biomedical research and program evaluations of the highest quality based on international standards.

• To provide graduates with competencies in management and health service assessment for the administration of health institutions and the development of health policies.

• To produce skilled public health professionals who draw on knowledge and methods from multiple disciplines to ethically define, critically assess, and resolve problems affecting the public’s health.

MPH Program Learning Outcomes

The Master of Public Health program provides graduates with skillsets and competencies based on the latest international standards that are required for careers in health administration and management, health education and health promotion, epidemiological health and disease research, health behavioral research, biostatistics, health systems and facilities research, and health policy development. The competencies acquired from this program are sought by a broad variety of employers both in public and private sectors nationally and internationally. On successful completion of the Master of Public Health program graduates will be able to:
• Assess the health needs of defined populations, including critically characterizing distributions of determinants of health, morbidity, mortality, and disability, burden of disease and application to inform development of more effective and more cost-effective interventions.
• Develop, analyze, and implement targeted health policies, projects and programs.
• Assure the appropriateness and effectiveness of a given public health intervention through monitoring and evaluation and other means.
• Communicate and disseminate public health messages to targeted audiences in the general public and for professional groups, including the writing of scientific papers for international conferences and submission to international biomedical and public health peer-reviewed journals.
• Apply behavioral sciences in public health research and practice, including identifying psycho-social determinants and etiologies of health conditions and design of behavioral interventions to improve health and well-being.
• Apply biomedical sciences in public health research and practice, including characterizing and evaluate modes of transmission and etiology, pathophysiology, and host responses to vaccines, chemoprophylaxis, and pharmacological methods of prevention, treatment, and management of disease of public health importance.
• Apply environmental health sciences in public health research and practice, including identification and appraisal of environmental exposures associated with disease, disability and death, especially for susceptible populations, and conducting risk assessment/risk management analysis.
• Apply management sciences in public health research and practice, including characterizing health service systems’ organizations and structures, evaluating health delivery system models, assessing and improving health service management through changes in strategic planning and organizational design, applying concepts of human resource management to achieve strategic objectives, and preparing budgets.
• Utilize quantitative sciences to design, conduct, analyze and interpret quantitative health research and statistical analysis, plan and conduct epidemiological surveillance, and critique and explain published peer-reviewed biomedical and public health literature.
• Utilize qualitative sciences to design, conduct, analyze and interpret health research and critique
• Demonstrate integration of new knowledge and skills with previous training and experience by critical and selective application within a personally and professionally relevant context, including fostering life-long learning and open critical thinking.