Andalusian School of Public Health

The Andalusian School of Public Health (EASP), located within the Granada University Campus (Spain), provides training, consultancy, international co-operation, and research services in the public health and management of health and social services integrating both perspectives in all EASP projects. The EASP is a publicly owned company by the Health Ministry of The Andalusian Regional Government.

The School is founded on concepts designed to encourage synergies between its different divisions, while consultancy assignments enable the School to drive training events towards change and innovation. Indeed, this is the only Public Health School in Europe that combine in-house training and research potentials with a firm commitment to transforming organisations through know-how transfer on an international scale, largely through projects coordinated by the International Co-operation Division.

Thanks to the close linkage between all the School’s divisions, the EASP has a fully integrated capacity to generate knowledge, transfer know-how and convert that know-how into products and services. The EASP mission, as approved by the School’s Board of Directors, is the following: To co-ordinate and establish the basic structures required for the training and specialisation of professionals and organisations in the field of Public Health & Healthcare Administration. This is to be achieved by encouraging debate, promoting teaching, conducting assessment and research activities, and advancing co-operation and exchange in scientific and technical areas on a national and international scale. This mission is approached from the perspective of a publicly owned company with a firm commitment not only to providing added value to the public sector but also to ensuring full efficacy and efficiency in the implementation of policies adopted by political authorities. From the legal standpoint, EASP is incorporated as a public limited company.

Strategic alliances
Since 1989, the School has been a World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre. Since 2004 the School received a designation as collaborating centre for Health Systems Development.

In 1988 the School became a member of the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) and the European Health Management Association (EHMA).

That same year an agreement was signed with the University of Granada to cooperate in the fields of teaching and research. Much of the training provided at the EASP in Masters and University Expert courses has been fully accredited and recognised by the University as equivalent to its own degree courses.

The first collaborative agreement with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) was signed in 1992.

In 1998 EASP joined the International Union for Health Education and Promotion (IUHPE).

EASP became a member of the Association of Latin American Public Health Institutions (ALAESP) in 2000.

In 2003, responsibility for the Child Observatory of Andalusia was entrusted to the EASP by the Regional Department for Equality and Social Welfare in Andalusia. In the international area the EASP joined the AESCOLAPIUS public health school network, devoted to multi-centre training programmes; also collaborates with PAHO’s e-learning Campus.

EASP was audited and accredited by EHMA (European Health Management Association) in 2004. The same year, the School launched its virtual platform to provide back up for its current training activities.

In 2005, after 20 years of serious work, creativity and development, the EASP was awarded with the Flag of Andalusia that is granted by the Regional Government. In that year, the School welcomed the Latin American Summit of Ministers of Health and the Forum of European Regions of Health.

Currently more than 200 people carry out training, researching and consultancy tasks in the Andalusian School of Public Health. In 2006, the EASP began the first European Master in Public Health EUROPUBHEALTH, a course recognised by the Erasmus Mundus of the European Union.