Abstract
Public health education in Bulgaria has developed strong traditions since the introduction of medical education in the country at the beginning of the 20th century. In the periods before and during the socialist regime, public health training suffered from a lack of integration and comprehensive epidemiological studies, insufficient training in management, and limited involvement of non-medical professionals. During the transition to a market economy after 1989, changes in the national context and the acceptance of modern European trends in health and educational policy became a solid base for further reform of public health education on all levels: undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuing education. Four new academic entities (faculties) for public health training were created in Bulgarian medical universities. The new faculties offering bachelors’, masters’ and doctoral degree programmes provided the basis for further expansion of public health education and research advancement.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria. Available from URL: http://www.nsi.bg/index.php (Accessed 1 March, 2011).
WHO Regional Office for Europe. European Health for All Database (HFA-DB). July 2010. Available from URL: http://data.euro.who.int/hfadb/ (Accessed 1 March, 2011).
National Center of Health Informatics. Available from URL: http://www.nchi.government.bg/ (Accessed 1 March, 2011).
Georgieva L, Salchev P, Dimitrova S, Dimova A, Avdeeva O. Bulgaria: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition. 2007;9:1–156.
Apostolov M, Ivanova P. History of Medicine and Nursing. Sofia: Gorex Press; 1998. [in Bulgarian]
Borisov V, Glutnikova Z, Vodenitcharov C, editors. New Public Health. Sofia: Aquagrafix, 1998. [in Bulgarian]
Bologna Declaration. 19 June 1999. Available from URL: http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/Docs/00-Main_doc/990719BOLOGNA_DECLARATION.PDF (Accessed 24 August, 2011).
Higher Education Act. State Gazette, No.112. 1995. [in Bulgarian]
Goodman J, Overall J, Tulchinsky TH. Public Health Workforce Capacity Building. Lessons Learned from ‘Quality Development of Public Health Teaching Programmes in Central and Eastern Europe’. ASPHER Series No.3. Brussels: ASPHER; 2008.
Tulchinsky TH, Varavikova EA. The New Public Health: An Introduction for the 21st Century. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 2000.
Vodenicharov T, Georgieva L, Dyakova M. The Faculty of Public Health in Sofia: activities and experiences in setting New Public Health as a national priority. J Public Health. 2006;14:224–8.
Ministry of Health. Ordinance No. 34 from 26 December, 2006 for Obtaining a Specialty in the Health Care System. State Gazette, No.7, 2007. [in Bulgarian]
Ministry of Health. National Health Strategy: Better Health for a Better Future for Bulgaria. Sofia, 2001. [in Bulgarian]
Gramatikov M, Gavrailov N. Country study paper. Health management education in Bulgaria. 11th NISPAcee Annual Conference “Enhancing the Capacities to Govern: Challenges Facing the CEE Countries.” Bucharest, Romania. April 2003.
Ministry of Health. National Health Strategy 2008–2013. Sofia; 2008. [in Bulgarian]
Health Establishments Act. State Gazette, No. 62, 1999. [in Bulgarian]
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Recommended Citation: Popova S, Georgieva L, Koleva Y. Development of Public Health Education in Bulgaria. Public Health Reviews. 2011;33:323–30.
Rights and permissions
This article is published under an open access license. Please check the 'Copyright Information' section either on this page or in the PDF for details of this license and what re-use is permitted. If your intended use exceeds what is permitted by the license or if you are unable to locate the licence and re-use information, please contact the Rights and Permissions team.
About this article
Cite this article
Popova, S., Georgieva, L. & Koleva, Y. Development of Public Health Education in Bulgaria. Public Health Rev 33, 323–330 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03391637
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03391637