Public Health (Health Services Management stream) (MSc)

I joined the UK Army’s Royal Army Medical Corps as a Medical Support Officer in 1994. My role has been the planning, delivery and recovery of complete health systems in demanding environments which I have done in Bosnia, Iraq, The Ivory Coast and Afghanistan over the years. I applied to the LSHTM to underpin my practical experience with world leading academic rigour. In short the school delivers this rigour and goes beyond. The course, the people you meet and the school’s environment are invigorating and truly awe inspiring. The strength of the school is its students and the experience they bring. Before I started I was rather concerned at how a military man may be received at the school; I should not have been worried. The school actively promotes and encourages open discussion on the theories taught, where examples of experienced based application provide real intellectual handles for students to hang the academia on. The modular approach also allows students the flexibility to shape their degree for future activities. I chose modules that focused on developing health systems in Low Income Countries. These new found academic based skills I will now be able to apply when I return to Afghanistan in 2009 – 2010 to assist in the development of the Afghan health system and the Afghan’s mission to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2020.

The reason I chose the School was because of my research interests. I wanted to learn about managing health systems, especially in the context of national systems. As the UK has a national health system which is similar to my country, Korea, I expected studying here would suit me. It was truly a wise choice! In addition, I received a lot of advice from my seniors to study at the School to develop myself in the field of public health. They stressed that the School has a competitive curriculum, excellent professors and good opportunities to meet great colleagues.

As a student who did not study public health before entering the School, every lecture was interesting. The compulsory modules were very helpful as the base for then taking optional modules to deal with my interests at a further level. To be honest, all my time in class was my happiest moment at the School: gaining deeper knowledge, learning from lecturers’ experiences, sharing ideas with friends during seminars. Socialising at the School was also memorable; in preparing for final exams, we usually discussed subjects for over five hours, and the time helped to establish a stronger bond among friends.

I believe studying at the School will contribute to my future, growing myself as well as my capacity.

I have long wanted to work in low- and middle-income countries ever since I have learnt that many people are still suffering from tuberculosis. Learning health service management stream, MSc Public Health course has opened the gate for me.

I was born in Japan when we had a remarkable economic growth in 1970s. Our generation experienced neither poverty nor malnutrition, needless to say tuberculosis. However, my grandparents have often told me that they were very poor back to 1930s when tuberculosis was endemic as current developing countries. In 2000s I started working as a clinician and a public health physician on tuberculosis. I realised that not only elderly people got reactivated and developed tuberculosis but also hard-to-reach people with complicated socioeconomic factors were at high risk of tuberculosis, for example homeless people living in big cities. This was one of the issues which developed countries currently have. How can I interpret this transition to other countries?

Learning at this School provides me the opportunities learning the diversity of health systems from low-, middle- to high-income countries. I also share my experience with the students from all over the world. Many of them have been working on tuberculosis. I may have the answer for my question in the end of the course, and may be applying the theory to the work in low- and middle-income countries.