D E PA RT M E N T O F

SOCIAL AND
PREVENTIVE
MEDICINE IN
M A L AY S I A
The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine is one of 22 teaching
departments in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. It was formed in
1964, one year after the founding of the Faculty of Medicine in the University
of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. The department are involved in both
Undergraduate and Postgraduate teachings.
The Master of Public Health program was started in 1973 in response to an
acute need of the Ministry of Health Malaysia for Medical Offices of Health to
serve in the then fast expanding rural health services. Thus the program
during the first decade of its existence was aimed at producing competent
public health specialist to serve the rural areas
By 1987, the environment have so changed that at a meeting between the
Director General of Health Services of Malaysia and senior staff of the
Department of SPM, a new kind of public health officer was required by the
Ministry of Health, namely "a multipurpose public health doctor equipped
with the managerial skills and able to work in the general public health as
well as hospital setting". By 1989, after a review of the curriculum, a new set
of objectives were established for MPH programme.
The MPH Graduate should be

• Technically competent in the board field of Public Health;

• Equipped with managerial skills;
• Able to function as a leader in public services;
• Able to work in the Public Health as well as the hospital setting; and
• Able to work in the district, state as well as the national levels of the health
services.
By 1992, many changes had already taken place in the country as well as in the
national health services and it was felt that all these changes had an influence on
the practice of public health. It was with this in ming that a concept paper to
propose "a system of education or training at the postgraduate level and a career
development channel in the field of Public Health in Malaysia" was produced by the
Department of Social and Preventive Medicine. This culminated in the initiation of a
4-years training program, the program has further evolve with the addition of the
Doctor of Public Health program.
ABOUT
The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine (SPM) is the first Public Health
Department in Malaysia and was established in 1964. It is the premier academic
destination for public health professionals and academics over the past half a
century. Over time, we have consistently increased our academic course offerings,
staffing and student intake numbers. The SPM Department first started offering the
Master of Public Health (MPH) program in 1973. Since then, the department has
further offered various Master by Specialty programs in various core disciplines of
Public Health and Master of Medical Science in Public Health (MMedScPH) program.
The dynamism of the Department under the previous headships has resulted in the
Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program.
The Department has celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2014 and 40th annivesary
of the Master of Public Health programme in 2013. In 2018 the Department has
launch a re-branding exercise to unify Public Health teaching, research and
consultation with the lauch of the PublicHealth@UM logo and tagline “Creating the
furture of Public Health”.
The strengths of the SPM Department lies with her multi-disciplinary expertise pooled
from our academics, the appointment of visiting professors from renowned universities,
and the regular audit exercises on her curriculum by assessors from established
universities in Australia and European countries. We ensure the relevance of our
curriculum and quality of our teaching by joining the National Conjoint Committee of
Public Health program at national level,
Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH), and
ASEAN University Network (AUN) accreditations at international level, besides meeting
the standards as specified by the Malaysian Qualifying Agency (MQA) on our programme.
The department has been and continues to be the hub for quality Public Health research
in Malaysia with the establishment of three research centres.
Julius Centre University of Malaya (JCUM), the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and
Evidence-Based Medicine, has successfully pioneered the fields of clinical epidemiology
and evidence-based medicine (EBM) and is a centre of excellence for clinical research.
The Centre for Population Health (CePH) conducts many community intervention projects
and actively contributes to our local communities. The Centre of Occupation and
Environment Health (COEHUM) provides consultancies in various occupational and
environmental areas. It has also managed to secure research grants from Social Security
Organisation (SOCSO).
The number of students in recent years has been overwhelming, especially
the Master of Medical Science and PhD, in various Public Health disciplines.
We have had to limit our acceptance to only those with the highest potential.
The Public Health relevance, scope, and quality of our graduates have been
complimented by many local and international universities.
We are a team that aspires for transparency and togetherness akin to a
family. This team spirit has been essential in organizing various faculty and
university events, and international level conferences. We are well supported
by the higher management at faculty and at the university level and sincerely
thank them for their support in our pursuit of education and research
excellence.
HISTORY OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF SPM
• In the early days, before the Department was set up, public health was taught by senior
government health officers on a part-time basis in the medical school
• Dr Gilbert Brooke was the first lecturer in public health. Then, the teaching of public health
focused on hygiene, sanitation and infectious diseases
• In 1936, (Col) Dr John William Scharff, who was lecturing on public health, introduced a health
and sanitary survey of rural villages as part of the curriculum
• The Second World War interrupted medical education from December 1941 to 1946
• The Department started as the Department of Social Medicine and Public Health in 1948, Dr
John H Strahan was appointed as its first professor. In 1947, a Commission was established
under Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders to inquire into and make recommendations concerning
university education in Malaya and Singapore. It recommended the amalgamation of King
Edward VII College of Medicine and Raffles College to form the University of Malaya.
• In October 1949, the University of
Malaya was established. The King
Edward VII College of Medicine became
the Faculty of Medicine at the University
of Malaya. Subsequently, two divisions of
the University of Malaya were formed,
one in Kuala Lumpur and the other in
Singapore
• In 1960, the Governments of Singapore
and the Federation of Malaya both
indicated their intention that the
Singapore Division and the Kuala Lumpur
Division of the University of Malaya
should become autonomous, separate,
national universities in their respective
countries. The Singapore Division
eventually became the University of
Singapore and the Kuala Lumpur Division
remain at the University of Malaya.
The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine was established in the
Kuala Lumpur Division of the University of Malaya in 1964.
Associate Professor Winifred Danaraj was appointed as the Head of
Department, she was the wife of the first Dean of Faculty of Medicine, the
University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur.
The department is involved in both Undergraduate and Postgraduate
teachings. It continues its focus on public health in the rural areas, the
undergraduate students were required to conduct a rural health survey in
remote districts in Malaysia. With the development in Malaysia and the
changing time, the programme evolved into Community Residency
Programme (CRP) and Organisation and Management of Health Services
(OHMS).
POSTGRADUATE IN PUBLIC
HEALTH
In 1953, the Postgraduate Diploma of Public Health (D.P.H.) course was inaugurated with
assistance provided by the World Health Organization. It was the first diploma course offered
in postgraduate medicine at the University of Malaya. Whereas public health doctors had
previously received postgraduate training in the United Kingdom and the West, the course in
Singapore was specially designed to suit conditions in the Far East and the tropics. During the
twenty years from its inception, a total of 145 doctors had successfully completed the D.P.H.
course.

The Master of Public Health Programme was started in 1973 to cater to the needs of the
country, with the first seven students graduated in 1974. (History of MPH). There are now
1099 Master of Public Health, Master of Medical Science in Public Health, Master of Medical
Science (Research), Master of Public Health(Speciality), Doctor of Public Health and Doctor of
Philosophy graduates, they originate from Malaysia and around the world. They now serve
with distinction in the Ministry of Health, universities and various National and International
bodies in Malaysia and around the world; e.g. the Malaysian Armed Forces, World Health
Organizations(WHO) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and in town and city councils.
VISION AND MISSION

VISION
• To become the institution of excellence which will provide leadership in activities for the education,
training, research, development, spread and provision of service in the domain of Public Health and
in all the specialities associated with it.
MISSION
• The Department views its mission at the undergraduate level as being charged with the
responsibility for the preparation of graduates to take up duties in the running of health programmes
for the community in all parts of the nation and to be able to operate from the national health care
service system effectively and efficiently.
• The Department views its mission at the postgraduate level as being charged with the responsibility
to produce public health practitioners who may be considered as a professional and a specialist in
the general domain of public health as well as in a particularly chosen speciality within it.
ORGANIZATION
The Department views its mission at the postgraduate level as being charged with the responsibility to
produce public health practitioners who may be considered as a professional and a specialist in the general
domain of public health as well as in a particularly chosen speciality within it.
The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine is organised into three divisions and five disciplines:
DIVISIONS
1. Office of the Head of Department (HOD)
2. Academic and Internationalisation
• Undergraduates
• Postgraduates
• Internationalisation
1. Research and Professional Services
• Clinical
• Professional Training
• Consultation
• Research
DISCIPLINES
• Health Policy & Management (HPM)
• Epidemiology (EPID)
• Biostatistics (STAT)
• Family Health (FH)
• Occupational & Environmental Health (OEH)
The Department also houses three research centres,
• Julius Centre University of Malaya (JCUM)
• Centre for Population Health (CePH)
• Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health-UM (CEOH-UM)
These centres consisted of the Head of Centre with a number of
administrative and research staff.
THE END