The University of Community Health, Magway (UCH) (, ) is a Community Health University under the Ministry of Health (Myanmar), and located in Magway city , Myanmar. The university offers a four-year Bachelor of Community Health (B.Comm.H) degree program. Students have to study how to perform community health. Also, they must take clinical subjects as integration for rural population whom can't get primary health care. Formally, the graduates are allowed to practice as Health Assistants (HA) in Department of Public Health and FDA of Myanmar, many of whom are the main providers of primary health care in rural Myanmar where access to regular physicians is difficult.
First, it was established as Health Assistant’s training school in Yangon in 1951. Health Assistant’s training school and Aung San Health Demonstration Unit (Field Department) were combined and emerged as School of Health Science for Basic Health Workers in December 1991 that was upgraded up to University of Community Health in 1996. The University moved to Magway in 2000. Field Department was also moved to Tawsaint village, Salin Township in 2006.
Nowadays, most of the alumni are working in various sectors such as NGOs, INGOs, UN, Department of Food and Drug Administration and Department of Public Health of Myanmar Government.
History
With the guidance and national health policy of U Nu's Government the Health Assistant Training School was established in 1951 in Yangon to provide health care to rural population where access to regular medical doctors are difficult. The main objective of that training school is to produce the health assistant within a short time (three years) while the medical doctors were trained for six year. Later, 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. The objective of the university of community health is also change and wide scope. 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.
University of Community Health, Magway regularly accepts approximately 150 students (Male: Female = 70:30) who passed the matriculation examination. The required score for selection is approximately 450 for males and 470 for females.
Academic departments
Department of Biomedical Science
Department of Community Health
Department of Disease Control/Epidemiology
Department of Health Promotion/Health Education
Department of Environmental Health
Department of Educational Science
Department of Myanmar
Department of English
Department of Zoology
Department of Botany
Department of Chemistry
Department of Physics
Department of Field Research (Salin Township, Taw Saint village)
Curriculum
Each school year lasts ten months from January to October. Students are required to take written, practical, field trip and oral exams at the end of each year.
First year
Coursework with assignment
Biomedical Science
Zoology
Botany
Chemistry
Physics
Communication science
Myanmar language
English language
Primary Medical Care
Myanmar Traditional Medicine
First Aid
Coursework with or without assignment
Total Personal Professional Development (TPPD) Basic Computer
Second year
Coursework with assignment
Structure and Function of Human Body/Human Anatomy and Physiology
Vital Statistics
General Pathology and Pharmacology
Epidemiology
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, disaster management and global warming, 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.