<< BackSchool of Public Health trains Afghani physicians
Battling intermittent electricity, slow Internet connections, and the demands of their full-time careers, physicians from Afghanistan have earned master of public health degrees from Loma Linda University. They are: Drs. Mir Lais Mustafa, director of medical research, Afghan Public Health Institute (APH), Ministry of Health, and Bashir Noormal, who leads APH.
“As director general, I needed such an education and qualifications,” Dr. Noormal says. “In Afghanistan, we have many health problems because of the long-lasting war, and we have many communicable diseases.”
A third Afghani physician, Dr. Abdullah Salam, has spent the last three years in Loma Linda, earning his degree through a scholarship from the university. Dr. Salam served as former president, Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital, in Kabul.
Dr. Salam is enthusiastic about what he discovered while a student in the School of Public Health. “We learned most importantly about healthful lifestyle…and the underlying causes of diseases that are killing our children. It will be a great advocacy to just go to the country and tell people to change their lifestyle.”