Science, Engineering Education Important For Public Health Capacity
“The path to development in all geographies goes through higher education. In particular, sustainable development in meeting the public health challenges relies heavily on reliable local capacity of doctors, nurses and public health professionals,” Muhammad Zaman, director of the Laboratory of Engineering Education and Development at Boston University, writes in the Huffington Post’s “Impact” blog. “While capacity in public health is undoubtedly needed, so is the capacity to innovate and sustain the medical and engineering innovations that come through various public, private or philanthropic ventures,” such as the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and USAID’s Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN), he states. “What we need is therefore a program that mirrors MEPI, something that I would call ‘Science and Engineering Education for Development,’ or SEED,” Zaman writes, describing his “three-pronged vision” for such a program. “With a large portion of society falling in the college-going age group in many countries across the globe, the demand for higher education is immense,” he writes, concluding, “There is opportunity not only in using education for innovation but the moment is ripe to harness innovation in education to make the world a better place beyond the Millennium Development Goals” (7/15).