Dean’s Message   

¡Welcome to  the School of Public Health and Administration "Carlos Vidal Layseca”or 'FASPA' as we say in Spanish (Facultad de Salud Publica y Administracion)!

We are the only School of Public Health in the country and one of the few in Latin America. As such, we are faced with the enormous challenge of training current and future generations of health professionals. Through our graduate and student exchange programs, not to mention the only Health Administration undergraduate program in Peru, we are helping form and train change agents and public health experts for Peru and the world.

But what is Public Health? Many people are unfamiliar with its meaning and importance. Public health involves many disciplines   including management, and seeks to protect health of populations just as medicine aims to protect the health of the individual.

In Public Health we understand that health is shaped by our genetics and personal choices just as much as the life opportunities offered to us and our social, political and economic contexts. This realization compels us to focus on promoting health and preventing disease rather than simply providing treatments, and seek change at the populational level, which can be as small as a group of individuals or as large as an entire country, continent or the world.

In Public Health, one aptly made action or decision can save millions of lives, prevent damage and conserve scarce resources, which are particularly limited in the health sector, and in countries like ours.

In FASPA we are committed to developing the public health discipline using the Global Health perspective, knowing that health problems and challenges transcend national borders in an interdependent world. Our goal is to educate, research and act on local, regional, national and transnational determinants to improve the health of vulnerable populations in a global context. Our undergraduates and graduates academic programs, refresher courses, continuing education program and research by faculty and students are all directed toward this goal.

We invite you to learn more about what we do, and to be part of an institution committed to improving health globally.

Why is our School named ‘Carlos Vidal Layseca’?