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College Kids Take Global Outlook to Class

Interest in public health leads to skyrocketing course enrollment

By Harry Kimball, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 19, 2008 3:22 PM CDT

(Newser) – In less than a generation, college students' international perspective has transformed many colleges' public health-related programs and courses. The AIDS epidemic served as a catalyst by opening young people’s eyes to the global character of disease, and the ease of worldwide travel and communication is spurring involvement abroad. The Washington Post looks at the transformation.

“It took something like HIV/AIDS to capture our attention and make us realize that there were such inequities in the world,” says one UCLA professor. Studying public health gives students tools to understand many global issues, from famine and poverty to SARS and STDs. “There is a very idealistic aspect to this," says one epidemiologist. "The drive is not just intellectual, it is passionate as well."

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Vaccination is becoming a hot topic among undergraduates studying public health. (AP Photo)

An unidentified man drinks river water, a known factor in the spread of measles, in Nigeria. (AP Photo)

Johns Hopkins University's undergraduate public health studies curriculum has almost twice as many majors this year as it did just a decade ago. (AP Photo)

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Today's students want to contribute, to empower... I think they also intuitively realize that the world is their community and that the gains of the 21st century will be in global public health. - Ruth Gaare Bernheim, University of Virginia

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College Kids Take Global Outlook to Class