Health for all, everywhere, all the time
Smoking, vaccines, disaster management, health service organization, pollution, ethics . . . public health practitioners deal with all issues having a direct or indirect bearing on our wellbeing. .
For a More Equitable Society
By promoting better health for everyone, public health practitioners and researchers are helping build a fairer world.
International Outlook
The economic, social and political dimensions of globalization are shaping healthcare around the world. Our school is working closely with numerous local and international partners on globalization-related issues. For over 25 years, our International Health Unit has been leading international healthcare cooperation projects, making a substantial contribution to improving health worldwide.
"Public Health is the science and the art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical health and efficiency through organized community efforts for the sanitation of the environment, the control of community infections, the education of the individual in principles of personal hygiene, the organization of medical and nursing service for the early diagnosis and preventive treatment of disease, and the development of the social machinery which will ensure to every individual in the community a standard of living adequate for the maintenance of health."
Charles-Edward Winslow, 1920.
“Public health refers to all organized measures (whether public or private) to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong life among the population as a whole. Its activities aim to provide conditions in which people can be healthy and focus on entire populations, not on individual patients or diseases.”
World Health Organisation (WHO), 2002.
Our areas of expertise and education
Who studies public health?
Because public health is such a broad field, our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds in multiple areas of study:
- Humanities and Social Sciences
- Chemistry
- Biology
- Communication
- Mathematics
- Management
- Medicine
- Nursing
- Veterinary Medicine
- Law, etc.
A career in public health
Professional opportunities in public health are as numerous as they are varied. Whether in health promotion, environmental health, health policy administration and management, occupational health or epidemiology, the Université de Montréal School of Public Health (ESPUM) opens the door to a stimulating career.
Good to know: Graduates of the ESPUM enjoy an excellent placement rate after graduation in all of our fields of study.