Member SpotlightsSocial Medicine in South Eastern Europe Doncho Donev, M.D., Ph.D. A Science Advisory Board Member Since 2004 & a 2008-2009 Steering Committee Member Doncho M. Donev received his M.D. at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University Medical Faculty in Skopje, Macedonia, in 1973, where he also completed his specialization in social medicine in 1981. From 1983-1985 he completed his postgraduate studies in social medicine in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and later received his Ph.D. at Skopje University Medical Faculty in 1993. He pursued his postdoctoral studies in public health (Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program) at Emory University School of Public Health in Atlanta, GA, USA, in 1993-1994. Since 2003 he has been a full-time Professor of Social Medicine at Skopje University Medical Faculty. Donev's professional and research interests include a broad range of activities related to the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases; health status and health care needs of vulnerable population groups, organization of health systems and health care reform, health economics, health education, and health care management. Since 2000, he has actively participated in the Stability Pact Training and Research Cooperation in South Eastern Europe and since 2006, he has been involved with the Forum for Public Health in South Eastern Europe (FPH-SEE). By involvement with these organizations, he has conducted research and organized continuing health and medical education programs for health professionals in SEE countries. Donev is co-editor of the PH-SEE Book on Health Systems and Their Evidence Based Development (2004), and Editor of the FPH-SEE Book on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (2007). You can read more about this publication at the following SAB web page: Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Since 2005, Donev has been a WHO National collaborator in the creation and implementation of the European Strategy on Non-communicable Diseases (NCD). He has helped to prepare a national strategy and action plan for NCD prevention and control, as well as other specific strategic documents on NCD. In addition to his obligations to Skopje University and WHO, Donev is a member of many associations and holds office for a number of organizations. He belongs to the Macedonian Medical Association, the Macedonian Chamber of Medicine, the Macedonian Association for Management and the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA). He is an Editorial Board Member of the Croatian Medical Journal and the Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences; an Advisory Board Member of the Asklepios International Journal of History and Philosophy of Medicine; a Scientific Committee member of the European Federation of Public Health Associations (EUPHA); and a Steering Committee member of the Forum for Public Health Cooperation in South Eastern Europe. Dedication to Social Medicine & Public Health Knowledge is unlimited and multiplying continuously. No one knows everything, even in some narrow fields of expertise. The positive, optimistic and progressive approach is to observe and recognize the glass as half full with liquid/knowledge with a tendency to support increasing the level of knowledge. Social Medicine and Public Health is an art and science, a movement dedicated towards improvement of health and well-being (of communities with their full participation). The diversity of problems and challenges with high complexity that Public Health is faced with, requires a high degree of expertise and creativity to design and execute appropriate interventions. Besides continuous building on top of my knowledge and expertise as a real public health professional, I understand that promotion of the populations' health through prevention, education and health care reforms needs sustainable public health training of excellence at all levels of education and personnel. Having in mind the importance and necessity for advancement of education in the field of social medicine and public health, in the past 15 years I have held a leading pioneer role in the field of Social Medicine and Public Health development in R. Macedonia. As a dedicated educator, I was taking on heavier than normal teaching workloads each academic year in undergraduate and postgraduate education through the Chair of Social Medicine (created in September 1994 and I was elected as the first chief of the Chair) at the Medical Faculty in Skopje and continuing professional education programs and activities of the Ministry of Health, Macedonian Medical Society and Macedonian Chamber of Medicine. In 1997 I left the Republic Institute of Health Protection-Skopje and was employed in the Institutes at the Medical Faculty in Skopje. In the same year, I initiated the establishment of the Institute for Social Medicine and, the next year in March 1998, I was appointed to the position of Director of the Institute. During my Humphrey Year at the Emory University School of Public Health in Atlanta (1993-1994), I had a dream - one day to initiate MPH education and to establish the School of Public Health in R. Macedonia. In the preparation phase and initial process, from November 2000 to December 2003, ideological and expert support of the Stability Pact for South East Europe Project for advancement of the academic programs and research in the field of public health (www.snz.hr/ph-see) and the Braun School of Public Health, Jerusalem, Israel were invaluable for MPH curriculum development and for establishing the School of Public Health at the Faculty. Financial support by the Open Society Institute (OSI) Skopje Office was essential for equipping the Center for Public Health, as well as for education of the teaching staff and inclusion of guest experts and invited lecturers from Israel, USA, Lithuania, Croatia and the World Health Organization. In December 2003 the MPH Program was implemented by the newly created Center for Public Health within the Medical Faculty in Skopje, as the first step towards establishing a real and accredited School of Public Health in R. Macedonia. As one of the key players in this process I opened the MPH program, being a responsible lecturer for the first course (besides two others) - Introduction to the New Public Health. The average number of students enrolled in the MPH Study Program at the Medical Faculty in Skopje each year is about 30, or about 180 in total until 2008-2009. The first 9 students presented/defended their master's thesis in public health at the Medical Faculty in Skopje in 2007 and 2008. In 2006 an external evaluation of the implementation of the MPH Program was organized by the Association of the Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER). The MPH Program and the Center for Public Health at the Medical Faculty in Skopje was recognized as very successful and was accepted to be a regular member of ASPHER which was a big success for a small country such as R. Macedonia. It is expected, starting with the academic year 2009/2010, that the Medical Faculty in Skopje and the Center/School of Public Health within the Faculty will organize a new Ph.D. Study Program, as well as a Ph.D. Study Program in Public Health (I am a member of the WG involved in preparation of the Curriculum), which will be a combination of organized courses and research for a Ph.D. thesis, in accordance with the Bologna Process and the European standards and recommendations. Career Motivations The Humphrey Fellowship Program (1993-1994) at the Emory University School of Public Health in Atlanta, was the most precious professional experience for me, and the Humphrey Year was the most memorable turning point and milestone in my personal life and professional growth, success and career. The spirit of Hubert Humphrey and the Humphrey Program inspired me to think more seriously and to prepare myself as a public health professional and educator for action; to face and deal efficiently with future challenges at the local, national and international level. I graduated from the Medical Faculty in Skopje in 1973, being less than 24 years of age and being the first graduated student out of 350 from the same generation of students enrolled in the academic year 1968-1969. My first four-year working experience as a general practitioner (GP) at the Primary Health Care level was in the Medical Center in Shtip, R. Macedonia. There I was offered support to choose some of the clinical specializations, even being under pressure to start specialization in surgery, and later on to return back and work as a specialist in the Medical Center in Shtip. I felt that I was facing the biggest crossroad as a young doctor at the very beginning of my professional career. In addition to the regular job as GP, I was engaged as a lecturer in Health Education in the Secondary Nursing School in Shtip. That experience was crucial for me to be attracted by the health promotion and disease prevention approach and the Public Health philosophy. I finally decided to leave Shtip in 1977 and to start specialization in social medicine, being employed at the Republic Institute for Health Protection in Skopje. In 1981 I passed the specialists exam and became a specialist in social medicine. Two years later, in 1983, I was elected to be an assistant lecturer at the Medical Faculty in Skopje and I started my academic career. I believe I made the right choice from a professional point of view, as I really love social medicine and public health. Leisure Time As an amateur poet, from time to time I write some poems when I face some challenges or have special inspiration. My feelings and views about the personality of Hubert Humphrey and the mission of the Humphrey Program were expressed in my poems "Trace in Eternity" and "Humphrey Commitment". Jogging is my continuous activity for recreation and keeping fit for the heavy workload and intellectual efforts. Special relaxation for me is to spend some time in my carpentry workshop at the basement of our building where I made my home library shelves, working tables for me and my daughter and son, and some kitchen items/other things for our apartment. I am a pure academic professional and not a member of any political party in R. Macedonia. But my professional background as a public health expert and personal orientation is mainly directed toward society and people, public service and the common good. During the 20th Anniversary of the Humphrey Program in Washington, D.C. (1999), I took the initiative to lead the process for establishing an alumni association in R. Macedonia. Later on five enthusiastic and dedicated alumni from R. Macedonia joined me and, with help and support by the IIE Humphrey Office and the Embassy of USA in Skopje, R. Macedonia, we prepared a Proposal-Constitution. In March 2000 the Macedonian American Alumni Association (MAAA) held its first constitutional meeting. I became the first president of the MAAA, and was reelected in 2002. Much of your research involves non-communicable diseases with population groups that are particularly susceptible; which population groups in particular, and what factors contribute to their vulnerability? Elderly and marginalized groups (Roma population) are especially vulnerable because of the lifestyle and social environment factors. As a WHO National collaborator, you've helped to prepare strategic plans to combat non-communicable disease. What strategic plans did you contribute to? As a WHO National counterpart from R. Macedonia (2006), I contributed in preparing the European Strategy on Non-communicable Diseases (NCD) Prevention and Control and related activities in my country for preparation of a Situation Analysis and a National Strategy and Action Plan for NCD Prevention and Control in R. Macedonia. How have your international experiences influenced your operations in R. Macedonia? Academic courses I selected at the Emory University School of Public Health, Division of Health Policy and Management, and other professional development activities (professional visits to more than 20 institutions and professional affiliations, including The World Bank, Washington D.C. and UNICEF Headquarters, New York) enriched my professional knowledge, experience and skills and enabled me to make more meaningful contributions to all processes of organization and transformation of the health care system and medical education system in R. Macedonia. As soon as I returned from the USA to my country, in 1994, to the same working position - chief of the Department of Social Medicine within the Republic Institute for Health Protection (RIHP) in Skopje, I have been involved, at the highest national level in a variety of educational, research and other activities related to health care system reform and advancement of education in R. Macedonia. What role are you responsible for in FPH-SEE (Forum for Public Health in South Eastern Europe)? There is a broad range of educational and research activities, in which I participate actively as a Steering Committee member, within the Stability Pact Training and Research Cooperation in SEE countries Project (2000-2006). This was transformed into the Forum for Public Health Cooperation in SEE in 2007 (www.snz.hr/fph-see). In 2001, an inter-ethnic armed conflict emerged in R. Macedonia, with elements of ethnic cleansing between Macedonians and Albanians. Public health professionals contributed to peace, tolerance and cooperation through the Stability Pact PH-SEE Conference "Public Health and Peace", held in Skopje from Dec 6-8, 2001. (I was appointed to be Chairman of the Organizational Board). At the conference over 150 experts participated; half of them were from abroad, from almost all SEE countries and many other countries in Europe, the Middle East and the USA. A special Plenary Session was dedicated to the schools of public health as peace catalysts. The participants of the conference emphasized the health and humanitarian responsibility of the institutions and experts in the field of health, and especially in the field of public health, in the pre-conflict and early conflict situations, as this particular situation in Macedonia was. The conference papers and the "Skopje Declaration on Public Health and Peace” were published in a special thematic issue of the Croatian Medical Journal, 2002 April; 43(2), (www.cmj.hr). In May 2003 the "Skopje Declaration on Public Health and Peace”, with some modification of the text in the preamble, was adopted by the WFPHA. To influence the impact of the Skopje Conference on peace and public health, in R. Macedonia and broader, I delivered a presentation at the 1st Conference of the Deans and Directors of the Schools and Institutes of Public Health and of the Representatives of the National Public Health Associations in SEE, held in Dresden, Germany, Nov 30-Dec 2, 2006 ( www.snz.hr/ph-see/news_doc/FPH-SEE_Dresden_16.pdf ). In 2004 I contributed as the co-editor, and author of four modules, of the PH-SEE Book "Health Systems and Their Evidence Based Development", and in 2007 I was the editor and author/co-author of 14 modules of the FPH-SEE Book "Health Promotion and Disease Prevention". If you'd like to comment on this article, or join in discussion on other topics with SAB members, please visit our community forums. Publications 1. Donev D, Laaser U, Levett J. Skopje Declaration on Public Health, Peace & Human Rights, December 2001. Croat Med J 2002;43(2):105-6. 2. Bjegovic V, Donev D, editors. Health Systems and their Evidence Based Development. Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe Public Health Cooperation. Lage: Hans Jacobs Publishing Company, 2004:578. 3. Donev D. Revitalization of Academic Medicine in Macedonia - An Urgent Need. Croat Med J 2004;45(6):667-83. Available from: http://www.cmj.hr/2004/45/6/15578799.pdf. 4. Donev D, Pavlekovic G, Zaletel Kragelj L, editors. Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Stability Pact Forum for Public Health Cooperation South Eastern Europe. Lage: Hans Jacobs Publishing Company, 2007:806. ### << Previous Next >> [ View All Member Spotlights ] |
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