The University of Community Health, Magway (UCH) (Burmese: က်န္းမာေရးတကၠသုိလ္(မေကြး), pronounced: [tɕáɴmàjé tɛʔkəθò (məɡwé)]) is a public university located in Magway, Myanmar. The university offers a four-year Bachelor of Community Health (B.Comm.H.) degree program. Most of the graduates are allowed to practice as health assistants, many of whom are the main providers of primary health care in rural Myanmar where access to regular physicians is difficult.
History
UCH was founded as the Health Assistant Training School in 1951 in Yangon to provide health care to rural population. The school was moved a few kilometers north to Insein in 1963, and then to Hlegu in 1968. In 1989, the school came under the purview of the Ministry of Health. The school became the Institute of Community Health in 1991, and became a university in 1995 and began offering a four-year bachelor's degree program. In 1999, the military government moved the school out of Yangon Division to Upper Myanmar. UCH is located on a 41.4-hectare campus at Htonpauk, about 14.5 km north of Magway, and 3.2 km off the Magway-Natmauk Road.[1]Academic departments
- Department of Biomedical Science
- Department of Burmese
- Department of English
- Department of Clinical Medicine
- Department of Disease Control/Epidemology
- Department of Health Promotion and Health Education
- Department of Environmental Health
- Department of Community Health
- Department of Educational technology
- Department of Botany
- Department of Zoology
- Department of Physics
- Department of Chemistry
- Department of Field Research(Salinn Township,Taw Saint village)
Curriculum
Each school year lasts ten months from January to October. Students are required to take written and oral exams at the end of each year.First year
First year students are required to interact with the community by meeting the patients from nearby villages.Coursework with assignment
- Biomedical Science I
- Biomedical Science II
- Communication science
- Primary Medical Care
- Traditional Medicine
- First Aid
Coursework with or without assignment
- Total Person and Professional Development Program (TPPD)
- Family Medicine
- Structure and Function of Human Body
- Basic Computer Science
Second year
Coursework with assignment
- Structure and Function of Human Body
- Vital Statistics
- General Pathology and Pharmacology
- Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases
Coursework without assignment
- Health Education
Third year
Third year students are required to make field trips to nearby villages and provide seminars on such health education topics as the natural history of diseases, environmental sanitation, the dangers of smoking/alcohol, rodent control, etc. The seminars are organized by the departments of Health Education, Community Health and Environmental Health. The students then visit a local Rural Health Center (RHC) to learn the operations of an RHC.Coursework with assignment
- Disease Control
- Health Education
- Environmental Health Education
- Educational Technology
Coursework without assignment
- Medicine
- Surgery
- Community Health
Fourth year
- Fourth year students need to make research for protocol. For this we had to go to Rural Health Centre, under magway division (from October 10 to November 5).
Coursework with assignment
- Community Health I
- Community Health II
- Medicine
- Surgery
Affiliated teaching hospitals
Students are required to make field trips to the following UCH affiliated hospitals in the region for three months(May–July).References
- "Community Health University (Magway): Source of proficient health assistants". mrtv3.net.mm. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Community_Health,_Magway
