Since March 2021, the world’s leaders have expressed a desire to “build back better,” reflecting a desire to see an enhanced post-pandemic world and the need to improve and protect health by being better prepared to respond to future pandemics. 

The Global Network for Academic Health (GNAPH) has released the statement: 'Global governance for improved human, animal, and planetary health: the essential role of schools and programs of public health'. It lays out the role of schools and programs of public health in the current pandemic and in developing standards and competence for better public health as well as the public health knowledge and skills shown by the pandemic to be in need of massive expansion. It ends in an official declaration of what is required for better global governance for health.

The leaders of the Global Network for Academic Public Health present this Declaration and related papers for consideration by our members, partners, and colleagues. We also present it for a wider audience of decision makers and funding bodies at global, regional, and national levels. We hope our member schools and programs of public health will use the declaration in their evidence to national governments, and health and education ministries, to make the case for enhanced public health education. We respectfully call on the World Health Assembly Special Session on the Pandemic Preparedness Treaty to ensure that there is a clear and substantial commitment to investment in education and training for public health built into the new treaty.

The full statement on Global governance for improved human, animal, and planetary health: the essential role of schools and programs of public health is available here.

About the Global Network for Academic Public Health

The Global Network for Academic Public Health (GNAPH) is an alliance of regional associations that represent schools and programs of public health around the world. GNAPH is focused on enhancing academic public health worldwide through mutual learning and collaborations between academic public health institutions globally in order to improve and protect the health of people and the planet. This alliance of regional associations includes all regions of the world.

It comprises:

• Alianza Latinoamericana de Salud Global (ALASAG)

• Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH)

• Association of schools of Public Health in Africa (ASPHA)

• Association of schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER)

• Association of schools and programs of public health (ASPPH)

• Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Australasia (CAPHIA)

• South East Asia Public Health Education Institutions Network (SEAPHEIN)