Table_1_The Institute of Medicine’s call to action revisited: assuring access to public health education for U.S. college students.DOCX

The Educated Citizen and Public Health initiative promotes that an understanding of public health issues is a principal component of an educated population and is necessary to develop social responsibility and promote civic dialog. This initiative supports the Institute of Medicine’s (now the National Academy of Medicine) recommendation that “all undergraduates should have access to education in public health.” The purpose of our work is to examine the extent to which 2- and 4-year U.S. state colleges and universities offer and/or require a public health course. Select indicators identified include the presence and type of public health curriculum, public health course requirement, presence of public health graduate program offering, pathways to public health, Community Health Worker training, as well as demographic information for each institution. An analysis was also conducted for the historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and the same select indicators were examined. The data suggest that there is an imperative need for a public health curriculum across the nation’s collegiate institutions with 26% of 4-year state institutions lacking a full undergraduate public health curriculum; 54% of 2-year colleges not offering a pathway to public health education; and 74% of HBCUs not offering a public health course or degree. In the age of COVID-19, syndemics, and considering the post-pandemic phase, we argue that expanding public health literacy at the associate and baccalaureate level can help prepare an educated citizenry who is both public health literate and one that can demonstrate resilience in the face of public health challenges.

"受教育公民与公共卫生"倡议（The Educated Citizen and Public Health initiative）倡导，对公共卫生议题的认知是受过教育民众的核心构成要素，亦是培育社会责任感、促进公民对话的必要条件。本倡议支持美国医学研究所（现更名为国家医学科学院，National Academy of Medicine）提出的"所有本科生均应获得公共卫生教育"的建议。本研究的目的在于，考察美国两年制与四年制州立院校开设或要求修读公共卫生课程的情况。本次选定的观测指标包括公共卫生课程的开设情况与类型、公共卫生课程修读要求、公共卫生研究生项目开设情况、公共卫生教育路径、社区卫生工作者（Community Health Worker）培训，以及各院校的人口统计学信息。本研究同时针对传统黑人院校（Historically Black Colleges and Universities, HBCUs）开展分析，并对上述选定指标进行了考察。数据显示，全美高校均亟需完善公共卫生课程体系：26%的四年制州立院校未开设完整的本科公共卫生课程体系；54%的两年制院校未提供公共卫生教育路径；74%的传统黑人院校未开设公共卫生课程或授予相关学位。在新冠疫情、协同流行病（syndemics）频发以及后疫情时代的背景下，我们认为，在副学士与学士层次提升公共卫生素养，有助于培育兼具公共卫生素养与应对公共卫生挑战韧性的受教育公民群体。