EDITORIAL

Year : 2008  |  Volume : 21  |  Issue : 2  |  Page : 242

Community-Oriented Education: Staying on Target

M Glasser, D Pathman
Co-Editors, Education for Health

Correspondence Address:

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None

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On this, the 20^th anniversary of Education for Health (EfH), it seems appropriate to briefly reflect on the past goals, current status, and future directions of the journal in the context of international health professions education and the health of the international community.



Recalling the past, Henk Schmidt and Pauline Vluggen (2008) provide an excellent recap of the history of Education for Health in the tribute article of this issue of EfH. As a journal, it is important to be reminded and reflect on our institutional history. In defining the scope of the published information needed by informed medical educators, we should focus on providing the evidence needed for community-oriented education. Schmidt and Vluggen remind us that: “The question is asked: ‘Which kinds of skills, what kind of knowledge should a physician, a nurse or a midwife possess in order to have a measurable impact on the health condition of the people he or she serves?’” Education for Health provides an outlet for informed discussion of educational programs and community-based activities that will positively impact the people and the communities where students learn and where they some day will serve.



Schmidt and Vluggen also remind us of the professional development commitment EfH has had from its beginning. While at times ‘daunting,’ EfH from its inception has been committed to helping less experienced authors improve their contributions to the journal and to the health education literature generally. The tribute also reminds us that it is possible to encourage and support authors from developing countries. As Schmidt and Vluggen conclude, through Education for Health, “A science of community-based and community-oriented education has emerged.”



In these major respects, EfH in today’s world has remained true to its historical tenets. If anything, there has been a renewed enthusiasm for community-oriented education that was reflected in the recently revised mission statement of the journal. In this regard, among the types of papers we seek for publication in EfH are those that address the community-based education of health professionals, address community-based health care delivery, and describe and evaluate collaborations between academia and health service organizations designed to promote community health.



The journal also continues to support new authors in the development and publication of manuscripts that best present their work. In this, we have a cadre of co-editors, associate editors, and an editorial board dedicated to manuscript development as well as review. This commitment is in addition to the workshops on manuscript writing, research design, and the submission process that the EfH editors and editorial board offer at the annual meeting of The Network: Towards Unity for Health.



As always, Education for Health provides a forum for presenting findings from community-based and community-oriented education programs from across the world. Schmidt and Vluggen point out that in the first issue of the journal, papers were published from programs in Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan, the Netherlands, and the Philippines. In the current issue of EfH, papers are published from seven different countries: Kuwait, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United States.



As Education for Health celebrates its 20^th anniversary, the future holds many possibilities. We have recently entered the era of on-line publication, where authors and readers reach us, and we reach them, through the Web. We continue to seek to expand both our readership and our contributors, looking particularly to include more educators and researchers from Central and South America and Eastern Europe. We will always be looking to keep our readership informed of themes and trends in innovative and community-oriented health education. In this, we face the all-too-common economic challenges of organizing and producing a journal, particularly on the international level. As we look back on our first twenty years, we have a strong base from which to move forward now to continue promoting and disseminating work of significance in community-oriented education and health.

Michael Glasser, Ph.D.

Donald Pathman, M.D., M.P.H.

Co-Editors, Education for Health

Reference



Schmidt, H.P. & Vluggen, P. (2008). On the Journal’s 20th Anniversary: The Beginnings of Education for Health. Education for Health, 21:2, 236. Available online at: http://www.educationforhealth.net.