By launching a new BS/BA degree in public health this spring, Prairie View A&M University became the first Historically Black College and University in Texas to offer the program.
The move marks the first step in bridging a glaring gap in health care that University and health officials alike say became fatally obvious during the COVID-19 pandemic. The worldwide eruption highlighted the racial disparities in public health when Blacks and people of color were twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than their white counterparts.
“Reducing health disparities is one of the major goals of public health,” said Alphonso Keaton, dean of the Office for Undergraduate Studies at PVAMU. “Thus, as an HBCU, it is incumbent upon PVAMU to produce highly trained public health professionals with the core competencies in public health to develop and implement strategies to address the fundamental environment, social and economic causes of health inequities in Texas, the country and globally.”
Keaton says the program comes at an opportune time, on the heels of a pandemic that elevated the need for public health, better health care, and Black physicians, coinciding with increasing student interest and demand for health-related majors at PVAMU. “Public health is essential in this day and age because it is necessary for the preservation of communities, particularly communities of color.”
The move marks the first step in bridging a glaring gap in health care that University and health officials alike say became fatally obvious during the COVID-19 pandemic. The worldwide eruption highlighted the racial disparities in public health when Blacks and people of color were twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than their white counterparts.
“Reducing health disparities is one of the major goals of public health,” said Alphonso Keaton, dean of the Office for Undergraduate Studies at PVAMU. “Thus, as an HBCU, it is incumbent upon PVAMU to produce highly trained public health professionals with the core competencies in public health to develop and implement strategies to address the fundamental environment, social and economic causes of health inequities in Texas, the country and globally.”
Keaton says the program comes at an opportune time, on the heels of a pandemic that elevated the need for public health, better health care, and Black physicians, coinciding with increasing student interest and demand for health-related majors at PVAMU. “Public health is essential in this day and age because it is necessary for the preservation of communities, particularly communities of color.”
