The Nordic School of Public Health (NHV) considers good and equal public health to be a global challenge. In a world that is constantly changing, health prevention experts are provided training from a Nordic perspective. A new area of focus, Universal Design, shows how society can become accessible for all citizens.
NHV is financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers and located in Gothenburg, Sweden. About 500 students come here every year, the majority of them from the Nordic countries but many from other parts of the world as well.
A student at NHV can be a professional within the health care sector or a planning manager in the public sector. An academic degree is required to apply to NHV’s courses, which generally run for a couple of weeks.
Research-, master and diploma programme studies, as well as individual courses, provide the basis for working with health promotion and illness prevention. NHV contributes to the creation of health-promotive environments and healthy living conditions and furthermore promote equal access to health care, where the opportunities of citizens to choose a health-promotive and illness-preventive lifestyle are stimulated.
Creating a society for all
Human abilities vary with age and life situation. A growing theme at NHV is Universal Design, an area which now offers a diploma programme. One of the courses focuses on how IT-based information can be made accessible and usable.
”We provide training on the approach to how products, services and environments in the public sphere should be designed in order for all members of society to be able to participate,” says Senior Lecturer Evastina Björk.
Humans and their environment constitute a complex symbiosis. Being in control of one’s own life and to not be discriminated upon is part of the human rights.
Interest in Universal Design has proven to be especially great in the Baltic States and Russia.
”In Western countries, the realization has been made about the need for creating an accessible society, even though knowledge at the decision-making level, as well as rules and regulations, need to be improved. In Eastern Europe, it’s more a matter of introducing the concept and showing how it can increase accessibility,” explains Evastina Björk.
Another specialized diploma programme in public health offered by NHV is the Community and Health Care Associated Infection Prevention and Control programme. Main research areas at NHV are: Drug Utilization, Global and International Health, Mental Health, Health Promotion, Health Management, Migration and Health. NHV also organizes international meetings and conferences, and hosts of a number of networks.
For more information, please visit: www.nhv.se
