The Department of Public Health contributes to the worldwide development of sustainable effective health care systems that assure equity, quality, efficiency and participation. We have adopted an integrated strategy in which teaching, research and technical assistance mutually interact.

The units of the department embody specific technical expertise, particularly with respect to teaching. The research of the department, however, is increasingly managed in task-oriented groups. These may also involve members of other ITM departments.

Research, field work and policy development cannot be separated from our teaching. Capacity strengthening is an essential component in all our projects, which by definition involves national institutes or organisations. Our research priorities are primarily based on the relevance for health care systems in developing countries, the objectives and values contained in our mission statement, and the pursuit of added value or innovation in international health policies. Our research portfolio is focused on four partially overlapping lines: accessibility, quality, disease control and health policies.