WHO Collaborating Centre for Migration Health Training and Research
Department of Operational Medicine
On January 1, 2013, the Department of Operational Medicine was established as the successor of the former Department of Infectology, Defense and Disaster Medicine, based on the decision of the PTE Senate.
There are 4 sub-departments in the unit. Dr. Szilárd Rendeki, senior clinical director of the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care and Department of Operative Medicine is the head of Department of Defense, Disaster and Law Enforcement Medicine. The Department of Migration Health is led by Dr. István Szilárd Adjunct Professor. The head of the Department of Cultural Medicine is Professor Tamás Molnár F. who is also the deputy head of the department. Dr. Colonel István Kobolka, associate professor is the head of Defense Research Center. The Department of Operational Medicine is headed Professor Lajos Bogár who was appointed in January 2013.
Clinical Infectology and Migration Health Department
It is estimated that more than 8 % of the population of the 28 member states of the EU is of migrant origin already, and this number is constantly growing. Migration became a quintessential economic need for the EU workforce as a consequence of the uncanny demographic processes, however their successful integration is a great challenge. It is a multidisciplinary issue with serious economic and humanitarian aspects beside the healthcare and public health concerns. Healthcare plays a crucial role in this process serving both the economic and health safety interests of society. We need professionals with special knowledge in order to counteract. However, this has not reached the structure of the European educational framework yet.
The University of Pécs Medical School (UPMS) has established the Clinical Infectology and Migration Health Department in 2005, with an aim to become the education and research center of migration health, a new interdisciplinary field, in Hungary and in our European region as well. The department has carried out substantial academic work and developed vast health policy relationships across Europe. The Migration Health Sub Department aims to carry on with and implement this tradition and role through a new structural framework.
UPMS has already taken important steps towards developing a European-level human resource capacity related to the field of migration health. Every year more than 400 Hungarian and international students get acquainted with the issues concerning this topic.
Inclusion of intercultural competence emerged as a significant aspect in our programs as diversity becomes more and more substantial both among patients and students enrolled in our programs. However, the issue should not be overlooked on the local level in our population; health promotion of the Roma community is also an important slice of our education and research activity.
The World Health Organization has recently acknowledged our efforts, when the UPMS Operational Medicine Department was appointed WHO Collaborating Centre for Migration Health Training and Research. The new center plays an important role in the activity of WHO related to migration health in Europe offering new opportunities and perspectives for the faculty and the university as a whole. The formal appointment is a result of a long-term collaboration.
Collaborating centers are playing an important role within WHO framework, supporting its activity on the fields of some specific territories. For UPMS the following tasks had been designated:
- Contribute to WHO dissemination and advocacy policy
- Human resource capacity building on the field of Migration Health
- Assist WHO in health information related research
“Collaborating centers are academic institutions that carry out outstanding work in a specific field of healthcare development or public health, and therefore capable of offering professional background to WHO” summarized Dr Piroska Östlin about the role of collaborating centers.
More information: http://www.mighealth-unipecs.hu/