List of Public Health Courses in Nigeria & Requirements (2024)

Public health is an health discipline that deals about the local environment, which includes community, regional and global immediate health in the general public. This field of health incorporates many fields which are as courses studied in institutions of learning. The popular of them is nursing, which is a public health course that involves caring for the sick.

Public health workers have been on high demand, and this makes the profession sought after. For this, we have come up with this write up about the various public health courses and schools offering them in Nigeria, which will also encompass the specializations available and the requirements for admission into these courses.

LIST OF PUBLIC HEALTH COURSES IN NIGERIA

As stated earlier, public health deals from the community health, their courses are very broad and the available ones in Nigeria includes the following:

1. ENVIRONMENTAL PUBLIC HEALTH

This is a public health discipline that deals about the health conditions of people and also animals in a specific environment.

2. PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

This program is very active in Nigeria as there are many centres in the country to give first hand treatment in the local scene.

3. COMMUNITY HEALTH EDUCATION

This course involves the in-depth exercising of health services to communities and also educating them on health.

4. DRUG EDUCATION

This course focuses on the management of drugs and educating on use in the local region.

5. NURSING

This is the aspect of nursing that sees to caring for patients and also assisting medical personnel in managing public health.

6. FAMILY HEALTH

As a discipline on health, it majors on the safety of family. The task involves doctor, nurses and other medical practitioners who attend to family health issues.

7. EPIDEMIOLOGY

This is a branch of public health which involves the scientific study of the spread and control of diseases.

8. MEDICAL DEMOGRAPHY

This course incorporates study of the changing number of births, deaths, diseases, in a community over a period of time.

9. HUMAN NUTRITION AND DIETETICS

This course aims at addressing the issues of nutrition and lack of basic food. It also involves the scientific study of diet and healthy eating of the public environment.

10. BIOSTATISTICS

Biostatistics is the numerical study of collecting and analyzing the information concerning the entire health of the public community or region.

Other Public health courses include:

• Occupational Health
• Child and Adolescent Health
• Emotional Health
• Mental Health
• Health Economics
• Dental Health
• Health Management and Informatics
• Public health Technology
• International Public Health
• Disease Control & Surveillance
• Health Management and Education
• Tropical Public Health
• Health Policy & Management
• Health Services Administration
• Population and Reproductive Health Education
• Health Promotion and Education

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS INTO PUBLIC HEALTH COURSES IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

These are the admission requirement into Nigerian universities to study any of the public health courses.

O’ LEVEL/ JAMB ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

A minimum of 5 credit passes in five subjects to include English Language, Mathematics, Biology/ Health Science, Chemistry, obtained in WAEC/SSCE/NECO/NABTEB examinations or its equivalent, is the mandatory O’Level primary requirements into the public health department.

Also, the JAMB subjects combination for the UTME examinations should include Physics, Chemistry and Biology, adding with the general English Language.

FOR JAMB DIRECT ENTRY

Candidates seeking admission through this mode should have at least a Grade B in NCE degree in any of the following subjects: Physical/Health Education, Science Education, Nutrition, and Home Economics.

For polytechnic applicants which apply either with the Candidates with a National Diploma or Higher National Diploma in any of the following courses, should have not less than an upper credit in a related course of study.

POSTGRADUATE REQUIREMENTS

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS FOR MASTERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH

Admission to study public health or related course in the Masters programme is for only first degree graduates. Such candidate should have a minimum of a second class lower or a good postgraduate Diploma in addition to a first degree, HND or certain professional health certification from a recognized institution.

Courses through which the degree was obtained should include: Physiology, Pharmacy, Pharmacology, Medicine/Medical Sciences, Medical lab Science and Technology, Biology, Chemistry, Microbiology, Botany, Geology, Geography, Biochemistry and specific engineering course like Civil and Chemical Engineering.

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PHD) PREREQUISITES FOR ADMISSION

Candidates seeking for admission into public health postgraduate PhD programmes should have 60% in his or her Master’s Degree or posses not less than 4.00 CGPA (on a 5-point scale). The degree should be obtained in a related course from any recognized university.

WHERE TO STUDY PUBLIC HEALTH IN NIGERIA

A whole lot of Nigerian universities offer this course in their programmes. Nevertheless, as this course requires serious knowledge and training to work in the critical health sector, there is a need for quality training.

These universities are preferred to study public health courses in Nigeria and they include

• Covenant University
• University of Ibadan
• University of Lagos
• National Open University of Nigeria
• Babcock University
• Federal University of Technology Owerri
• Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife
• University Of Nigeria, Nsukka
• University Of Port Harcourt
• Bauchi State University
• Taraba state University
• University of Calabar, Calabar.

These universities offer topnotch degree programmes required for the public health profession.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH PROFESSION

With the much specification of the public health field of study, there are lots of job openings for these medical practitioners. Their jobs are open in hospitals, clinics. schools, workplaces and anywhere there is a need for primary health.

To sum it up, they are needed throughout the world as; Public Health Nurse, Epidemiologist, Health Informatics Specialist, Rehabilitation Counsellor, Health Administrators/Managers, Environmental Health Workers, Sanitary officers and Health Educators.

In summary, a career in public health is about working to save life and maintain good health in the immediate environment and the region to global scene at large. The courses and the prerequisites to study them we have outlined here, complementing with the career openings on public health discipline as a whole.