CHAPTER
2: 1961–1979
3.2 Development of human resources for health 3.2.1 Public health nursing training In the 1960s, public health centres wanted to nurture nurses who would be engaged in public health education, infectious disease control and the MCH project. There were, however, not enough institutions to train such nurses. In 1960, the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs (MOHSA) asked the Government to send three nurses for training in India with funding from WHO and UNICEF. However, it was not approved, the response stating that they would have nothing to learn from a country where “people walk barefoot through the streets”. One year later, in 1961, when a new Government came to power, MOHSA made the same request. This time, the request was approved, and the nurses were enrolled in the Certificate of Public Health Nursing (CPHN) course at the All India Institute of Hygiene & Public Health in Calcutta, India, in May 1961 (31). From 1961 to 1967, a total of nine nurses acquired the CPHN. Those who completed the course included Lee Pyo-hee, Gong Chan-gok, Lim Jae-tak, Jang Jeong-mi, Joo Hye-soon, Shin Deok-hwa, Im Myung-gyu, Park No-yai and Won Jeong-ja. The study abroad programme was terminated when a public health nursing course became available in the Republic of Korea in 1967 (32). In 1967, with support from UNICEF and WHO, the National Institute of Health established the Public Health Nursing training course as an evening class. The course was conceived by a WHO nursing adviser whose first name was Julina, who emphasized the necessity of the programme, and Lee Pyo-hee, section chief at the Department of Nursing Service, MOHSA. In 1970, the Public Health Nursing training course was developed into a one-year special course offered at the Graduate School of Public Health at Seoul National University (33, 34).
In 1973, the Medical Law was revised to grant the public health nurse certificate to nurses who completed the CPHN course and to those who held a bachelor’s degree. Unfortunately, the nurses who completed the course were not given any incentives, and the course failed to gain their support. Because nurses were not offered substantial benefits, and because the tasks at public health centres did not require advanced knowledge or strategies, the classroombased course ultimately failed and was discontinued in March 1983. The course was resumed in September 1986, but again discontinued in February 1992 (35). In total, 22 course sessions were conducted, and 905 nurses who were engaged in public health nursing, hospital nursing and nursing education participated in the course and acquired the certificate (36).
3.2.2 Teacher training methodology for medical and health-teaching professors To enhance the quality of health-care professors, the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific sent qualified candidates to the Regional Teachers Training Centre (RTTC) in Sydney, Australia, for training. From 1973 to 1975, five professors and one researcher from the Republic of Korea were trained (37). The participants in the programme were Kim Yong-il, Yoon Deok-ro, Han Man-chung and Baek Sang-ho from the College of Medicine at Seoul National University; Kim Jeong-soon from the Graduate School of Public Health at Seoul National University; Park No-yai from the Department of Training of the National Institute of Health (38). In many cases, the course’s teaching methods and theories on curriculum development were used for practical application immediately following the training. For example, Park No-yai attended the National Competition for Teaching Skills of Public Official Training Institutes as a representa-
50 70 years working together for health – the World Health Organization and the Republic of Korea
