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The health of populations is related to the norms and characteristics of society and its socio-economic organization. The causes of food-related ill health are located at the national and international levels and the cure must be sought in good governance. Thus, it is obvious that a Master's Degree in International Public Health must include a thorough overview of the "food chain" from "plough to plate" within the political, economical, socio-economic changes, environmental, industrial, scientific, and health contexts. Nutritional deficiencies are addressed by a variety of measures, including food supply and utilization programs, specific supplementation for high-risk groups, and food fortification to reach a general population. All are part of a wide-based public health nutrition approach, applicable in developed, redeveloping, and newly developing countries. This article is based on experience in teaching Public Health Nutrition to a mixed group of foreign students from different countries. Our goal is to prepare students for a variety of public health careers related to nutrition and health. The aim of this course is to introduce current roles and aspects of food and nutrition policy, focusing on food and nutrition security, human rights for food and nutrition, and the complex interactions among local and global systems. Students are introduced to nutrition screening, assessment, and research skills, and nutrition in emergency situations and in disaster relief. During the course the students learn about the design and the evaluation of nutrition interventions at the individual, community, and national level. The course gives a broad-based examination of major themes related to development and underdevelopment, poverty and wealth, equality and inequality. It also introduces program planning from the perspective of international organisations such as the World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation of the United Nations. More specific objectives include: 1. To define the nutritional problems at the level of the individual, family, the community, and the nation. Use of Causal Modelling. 2. To learn in what ways data may be gathered. 3. To suggest methods of intervention according to priorities. 4. To monitor the effects of such interventions. 5. To assess the scientific evidence underlying the connections between diet and disease.

The Community Medicine approach, focussed on an active assessment of health status with a subsequent provision of health care directed to the community as a whole, is recommended today as a means for addressing the fragmentation of health services. In parallel, in recent years the Community Medicine approach has been incorporated in a growing number of health academic institutions. In this paper it is suggested that the teaching of Community Medicine should be an active process in a practical environmental in which students could be involved with real life situations. Our teaching methods are illustrated by the experience of the Community Oriented Primary Care (COPC) Workshop of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Jerusalem. This Workshop is included in the curriculum after the core courses in the Israeli and in the International MPH Program at the Braun SPH. The central component of the workshop are the workgroups of 6-8 students with the assistance of a tutor member of the School's staff. The group, resembling a health team, focussed its work in the assignment of planning a proposal for the development of a community health program in the students' communities. The workshop is an illustration of the problem-based learning method carried out by public health workers of different professions background and with diverse practical experience reproducing a real life situation in a classroom environment. Repeated evaluations done by students has shown a positive assessment as measured by a reported adequate acquisition of knowledge, having an useful experience and practicing skills.

Sound decision-making and practice in public health, as in other disciplines, is contingent upon information that is properly collected, analyzed, and interpreted. We describe the content and teaching methods of a graduate course in investigative methods in public health taught within the framework of a Master of Public Health (MPH) program. Following the progressive steps of carrying out research, we highlight the main concepts and skills that a student of public health should be exposed to. This includes the formulation of the study purpose and objectives, basic study designs, definition and selection of the study population and study variables, issues related to the actual collection of data in the field including the reliability and validity of the information, and preparing the data for analysis. We describe the teaching methods that are employed including frontal lectures, individual and group-based exercises, and the use of simulated data to develop skills in the critical reading of published literature and data analysis. The integration of the learned concepts and tools into course workshops and dissertation work is also addressed. Together with training in epidemiology, statistics and other quantitative and qualitative methodologies, this course provides a solid basis for MPH graduates to tackle the public health challenges that await them.

Persons preparing for careers in public health practice need a solid academic grounding in the principles of communicable disease control before arriving on the job. We have developed an introductory course in infectious disease control for the Master of Public Health program in Jerusalem, which includes instruction in the following broad areas: How do micro-organisms spread and cause disease? How do we investigate and control an outbreak? What are the basics of primary prevention by immunization and what can mass immunization accomplish? What is the importance of routine ongoing communicable disease surveillance? What are the essentials of Travel Medicine? How can public health officials provide useful information to a concerned citizenry by intelligent cooperation with the media? How can immunization programs and other programs for infectious disease control be kept current with the help of expert advisory committees? What are the best resources available to the public health practitioner in the area of infectious disease control? Armed with the essentials, the practitioner will have the tools to approach communicable disease problems in an orderly and rational way even in an atmosphere of public and professional ignorance and apprehension.

The Ottawa Charter on Health Promotion defined the term Health Promotion as "the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health". It also specifies that "to reach a state of complete physical mental and social well-being, an individual or group must be able to identify and to realize aspirations, to satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment". Three main strategies for promoting health were stated: advocacy, enabling, and mediating. A great emphasis was put on policy. The Jakarta Declaration at the 4th International Conference on Health Promotion in 1997 reconfirmed the Ottawa Charter and added to it that "Health Promotion is carried out by and with people, not on or to people". The learning objectives of health promotion should refer to the values and strategies of 'Health 21', to the strategies and areas of action in health promotion as specified in the Ottawa Charter, and it should be relevant to the needs of the society that the participants are going to serve. The main goal of a training program in health promotion should be to develop competence in health promotion. "Competence" refers to the combination of three domains: attitudes, knowledge, and skills. Each school of public health or planners of an MPH course should decide upon the right mix of these three domains, according to their institute's mission and goals.