War and peace in public health education and training: a scoping review.
Lisa Wandschneider, Anna Nowak, Marta Miller, Anina Gr��n, Yudit Namer, Tomasz Bochenek, Lukasz Balwicki, Oliver Razum, Colette Cunningham
Author Information
Lisa Wandschneider: Department of Epidemiology and International Public Health, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
Anna Nowak: Department of Epidemiology and International Public Health, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany. anowak@uni-bielefeld.de.
Marta Miller: Medical University of Gdansk, Gdanks, Poland.
Anina Gr��n: Department of Epidemiology and International Public Health, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
Yudit Namer: Research Institute Social Cohesion, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
Tomasz Bochenek: Department of Nutrition and Drug Research, Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
Lukasz Balwicki: Department of Public Health and Social Medicine, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland.
Oliver Razum: Department of Epidemiology and International Public Health, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
Colette Cunningham: School of Public Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
BACKGROUND: Armed conflict and war are public health disasters. Public health action has a crucial role in conflict-related emergencies and rehabilitation but also in war prevention and peace promotion. Translating this into public health training and competencies has just started to emerge, especially in Europe. METHODS: We conducted a Scoping Review to map and identify the role of public health education and training of public health workforce relating to the prevention of war and promoting peace, as reflected in the scientific literature. We searched in PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Embase, Web of Science Core Collections as well as the reference list of included material in English, German and Polish. Focusing initially on the European region, we later expanded the search outside of Europe. RESULTS: We included 7 publications from opinion pieces to an empirical assessment of curricula and training. The educational programs were predominantly short-term and extra-curricular in postgraduate courses addressing both public health professionals in conflict-affected countries as well as countries not directly affected by war. Publications focused on public health action in times of war, without specifying the context and type of war or armed conflict. Competencies taught focused on emergency response and multi-disciplinary collaboration during emergencies, frequently drawing on experience and examples from natural disaster and disease outbreak management. CONCLUSIONS: The scientific discourse on competences in public health education for times of war and for the promotion of peace, predominately focuses on immediate emergency response actions. The prevention of war and the promotion of peace are missing foci, that need to feature more prominently in public health training. Public Health Education and training should ensure that war prevention and peace promotion, as well as public health action in times of war, are included in their competencies for public health professionals.
