Brief History

The School of Public Health and Social Sciences (SPHSS) is one of five schools within Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS). The School came into being after the amalgamation of the former Institute of Public Health, the Institute of Developmental Studies and the Institute of Primary Health Care and Continuing Education. The Institute of Public Health however dates back to July 1991 when it was established after the then faculty of medicine was upgraded into a college. Currently the SPHSS has six departments: Behavioural Sciences; Community Health; Development Studies; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Parasitology and Medical Entomology; and Environmental and Occupational Health.

The School has a more than 47 members of staff 24 of these having acquired PhDs from various re-known Universities across the world thus bringing home a wealth of skills, experience and competences to share with stakeholders especially students. The School has a wealth of experience in conducting research and community service activities within Tanzania and beyond and collaborates with a number of partner Universities, Governments, and Research Institutions and not least the communities we serve.

The school members of academic staff teach across the University in cross cutting subjects, and the School is host to one undergraduate and seven postgraduate programmes with a total of 71 undergraduate and 145 postgraduate students. Summaries of the current programmes are presented hereunder. New undergraduate Programmes namely BSc Health Psychology and five new Master Programmes namely MSc Monitoring and Evaluation, MSc Health Promotion, MSc Biostatistics, MA International Health and Gender Studies, and MSc Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety are planned in the near future.