Accreditation of public health education in India: Enhancing quality, competence and trust.

With an increase in the number of institutes offering public health education, there is a need for discussion on future directions and challenges. The World Health Report 2006 identified the need to improve the quality of public health education. There are various mechanisms and bodies that look after accreditation issues in several countries. The Council on Education for Public Health in the USA assists in the accreditation of schools of public health, as well as public health programmes. The Australian Network of Academic Public Health Institutions is actively engaged in discussions to improve the quality of its programme and institutions. In Europe, the European Agency for Accreditation in Public Health Education is responsible for accreditation. The South-East Asia Public Health Education Institutes Network facilitates accreditation of public health education in the region. In India, public health education varies across institutes. India needs an accreditation system to ensure that public health education is of the desired quality. Certain initiatives, such as conferences, consultation and the Calcutta Declaration, have been taken in the past two decades. However, the ideas mooted have yet to be translated into reality. The broad framework for accreditation may entail an institutional self-assessment against set standards, preparation of a database, cataloguing, and site visits by a peer team. There is a need for an apical body with all stakeholders participating in the process. Accreditation has specific benefits, but there are critical challenges as well. For example, the autonomy of the institutions needs to be protected, the accreditation bodies should exhibit professionalism and substantial financial resources are required. Before tackling specific criteria for accreditation, it is necessary to define a collective vision for schools of public health in India.