Belgrade in focus – the Deans’ and Directors’ Retreat 2011

“Bosnia genocide suspect Ratko Mladic jailed in Serbia” (CNN, 27. 05. 2011)

“Belgrade protest against Mladic arrest turns violent” (Reuters, 29. 05. 2011)

These are only some of the news headlines that you might have come across during the last week of May. Since then, Belgrade and Serbia have been the center of international media attention. Ratko Mladic, former general of the armed forces of the Republika Srpska and suspect of the massacre of around 8000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995, was arrested in Belgrade on May 26^th, 2011. Whereas demonstrations in favor of and against the detention of Mladic began to form and international political leaders started to discuss the further procedures in treating his case, the European Public Health community looked to Belgrade in attention of the 2011 Deans’ and Directors’ Retreat, organized and hosted by the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER). As an intern at the Brussels office of the network for public health academia and as the current project coordinator of the working group on ethics, I was given the chance not only to attend and experience this important week in Belgrade but also to contribute to the conference. This high-level meeting was dedicated to public health education, practice and research within the European Region and aimed at evaluating previous activities in the field, as well as at discussing, planning and organising future pathways for coordinated actions in public health. The deans and directors of public health schools and honours members of ASPHER were joined in their debates by discussants and delegates from various prominent European institutions, such as the WHO Europe, DG Sanco, ECDC and the Serbian Ministry of Health, as well as by representatives from ASPHER’s partner organisations (WFPHA, EPHA, EHMA and EUPHA etc.). The topics that were dealt with ranged from accreditation of schools of public health, the development of core competencies, doctoral programmes and good practice in public health education to topics concerning global health challenges, ethical challenges and communication and advocacy for public health. The result was two and a half days of hot debates, critical questions and promising outcomes that further increased my understanding of and commitment to the cause of public health.

Being involved in the process of developing and shaping agendas for tackling the challenges in public health in Europe and further contributing towards shedding light on unsolved issues was an experience I did not have before to such extent. Thus I particularly appreciated the unique opportunity to present my bachelor thesis project to the most excellent academics in the field of Public Health. Both with respect to their academic professionalism and their outstanding personality, the participants of the Deans’ and Directors’ Retreat I became acquainted with, have truly left a lasting impression which I am sure will influence my further work in public health to a great extent.

Caroline Brall