Master of Environmental and Occupational Health (MEOH)

Courses Category

About the Master of Public Health (MPH) Programme

The need for environmental and occupational health services is acute in low-income and newly industrialized countries (NICs) (NSOER, 2014). The discovery of oil and gas in Uganda is one of the newest development prospects, which is associated with numerous environmental and occupational health challenges and therefore requires sustainable management. Besides oil and gas, Uganda has several other renewable energy potentials (hydro power, biomass, solar, geothermal and peat) and with strategic effort, 92% of primary energy demand can be provided by renewable energy by 2050. However, sustainable management of these resources for development will require a critical number of environmental and occupational health cadres. The National Development Plan (NDP) 1 and National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) have recommended that if the country is to stimulate economic growth based on oil and gas, agriculture, mineral development, renewable energies and other industries, there is need for development of the required infrastructural and technical capacity to effectively manage the environmental and occupational health hazards associated with these industries (NSOER, 2014).
The SDGs, and the second National Health Policy of Uganda, 2010 - 2020, emphasize “A healthy and productive population that contributes to socio-economic growth and national development.” Specifically, SDG 8 target 8.8 highlights the importance of ‘protecting labour rights and promoting safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment’ These national and global goals agree with the achievement of Uganda’s Vision 2040 of ‘a healthy and productive population that contributes to socioeconomic growth and national development’. To attain these, occupational health is critical in ensuring the health of workers and increasing productivity and thus fostering economic growth.
Currently, this is the only graduate training in environmental and occupational health in Uganda, and the other only two Universities (Muhimbili University in Tanzania and Egerton University in Kenya) are offering such training in the East and Central African region. Majority of the BEHs graduates with interests in furthering their knowledge and skills in environmental and occupational health in the region, previously got stranded and opted for other programmes within the existing Universities and institutions or travel abroad for training which is very expensive. Specialization in environmental and occupational health will produce graduates with knowledge and skills to address the above challenges in Uganda and beyond.

Programme Philosophy:

The proposed master’s in Environmental and Occupational Health thus seeks to produce graduates with knowledge and skills in handling environmental and occupational health and challenges through research, environmental monitoring and laboratory investigations. Several contemporary environmental and occupational health issues have been suggested (Greenberg, 2007)

Programme Goal:

The goal of this programme is to train and produce knowledgeable and skilled graduates in the areas of environmental and occupational health, who will assume leadership roles in protecting health and preventing disease and injury through the identification, measurement, management and control of environmental and occupational exposures/risks.

Program Objectives:

The objectives of the MEOH programme are:

To equip learners with knowledge of EOH principles, challenges and mitigation measures
To impart learners with knowledge and skills of using different EOH tools and systems in assessing and monitoring hazards and impacts
To equip learners with skills to plan, manage and implement effective EOH interventions at district, national and international levels.
To impart learners with skills to conduct EOH research and training

Nature of the program

The MEOH programme shall be a full time.

Target group

Admission to the programme shall be to both Ugandans and non-Ugandans who fulfil the admission requirements as provided in section 3.1 of this curriculum. The targeted annual enrolment per academic year is 50 students.

Duration

The MEOH programme shall extend over a period of two years and each year shall consist of two Semesters. This will be a full-time programme with a recess term (for internship) at the end of year One.

Each semester shall last 17 weeks of which 15 weeks shall be for teaching and two weeks for examinations. The recess term will be 10 weeks long.

Designation of the award

The degree awarded to the successful candidate shall be designated as Master of Environmental and Occupational Health (MEOH). A minimum total of 62 Credit units are required before the award of the MEOH degree of Makerere University.

Mode of delivery

The programme shall be delivered through blended methods (online platforms, physical classroom lectures, tutorials, laboratory work, case-studies and fieldwork).

Tuition fees

The tuition fees for the International and East African students will be as indicated in the Table below. The fees are based on prevailing University approved rates and costs of program implementation. The tuition fees are subject to change after some time. On top of the tuition fees, students will be required to pay University functional fees.

No.	Item	East Africans	International
1.	Tuition	6,200,000	8,250,000

Terminal Diploma

Candidates who shall demonstrate inability to continue with their study programme, and are eligible for the award of a terminal diploma as provided by the Makerere University Senate guidelines, shall submit a written application to the responsible Head of Department.

As per the Makerere University Senate guidelines for terminal degrees, permission to award the terminal diploma shall be granted by the College/School Board only on compassionate grounds or in cases of illness or financial constraints, serious social or domestic difficulties or exceptional professional commitment which can be demonstrated to have adversely affected the candidate.

Admission requirements

Admission to the programme shall be to both Ugandans and non-Ugandans who fulfil the admission requirements. The requirements described below are considered to be the minimal academic conditions for admission and only make one eligible. MaKSPH shall conduct interviews for eligible candidates so as to ascertain their suitability for the programme. A first degree of at least second class lower, from a recognised/chartered University will be considered including:

A bachelor degree in Environmental Health Sciences
A degree in biological sciences, specifically including Human Nutrition; Environmental Sciences; Food Science and Technology and Bachelor of Sciences Biological.
A degree in the health sciences, specifically including Human Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Public Health and Biomedical laboratory technology.
A degree in physical sciences.
A degree in Veterinary Medicine
At least two years of relevant working experience in an environmental health, occupational health, health service or health research institution is an added advantage

Course categorisation

All courses in the programme are compulsory and must be passed by a student in order to obtain a degree.

Normal Progress

Normal Progress shall occur when a student has passed the assessments in all the courses he/she had registered for in a particular Semester.

Probationary Progress

A student who has obtained a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of less than 3.0 shall be placed on Probation. Such a student shall be allowed to progress to the next Semester/Academic Year but shall still retake the course(s) whose Assessments he/she had failed later on and obtain at least the Pass Mark (60%) in the course (s).

Course assessment

Each course shall be assessed on the basis of 100 total marks with proportions as follows: -

Course work 30%

Final Examinations 70%

Course work shall consist of laboratory work and progressive assessment (assignments / tests).

A minimum of two course work assignments shall be required per course.

For practical courses (laboratory, workshop practice, and industrial/field training), assessment shall be by student presentation or report in addition to any other assessment method that may be deemed necessary by the course facilitators.

Candidates in the programme will be required to defend their dissertations before a panel of examiners after which the degree will be awarded to the successful candidates who will have passed other courses in the programme, and whose dissertations will have been accepted by the examiners panel.

Courses offered in the MPH Programme

Year 1 Semester 1

MPH 7134: Public Health, Its Determinants and Health Promotion
MPH 7102: Applied Epidemiology I
MPH 7103: Applied Biostatistics I
EOH 7101: Foundations of Environmental Health
EOH 7102: Foundations of Occupational Health and Safety

Year 1 Semester 2

EOH 7201: Food Safety
EOH 7202: Environmental and Occupational Health Toxicology
EOH 7203: Urban Infrastructure’s planning and Health
MPH 7203: Research Methods
EOH 7204: Environmental Microbiology

Recess Term

EOH 7305: Field Training

Year 2 Semester 1

EOH 8101: Environmental Assessment and Monitoring
EOH 8102: Occupational Hygiene
EOH 8103: Water, sanitation and hygiene
MPH 7135: Health systems Leadership & management
SPH 8101: Seminar series

Year 2 Semester 2

SPH 8201: Seminar series
EOH 8201: Dissertation

Admission Requirements to the MPH programme:

A bachelor degree in Environmental Health Sciences
A degree in biological sciences, specifically including Human Nutrition; Environmental Sciences; Food Science and Technology and Bachelor of Sciences Biological.
A degree in the health sciences, specifically including Human Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Public Health and Biomedical laboratory technology.
A degree in physical sciences.
A degree in Veterinary Medicine
At least two years of relevant working experience in an environmental health, occupational health, health service or health research institution is an added advantage