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Studies & Degrees in Community Medicine

Community medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the health of populations rather than of single patients. Its aim is to prevent disease, promote health and organise health services for a whole community. The name is used above all in South Asia and parts of Africa. In other countries the same field appears as preventive medicine, public health medicine or, when it is combined with primary care, family and community medicine.

The American College of Preventive Medicine describes preventive medicine as a specialty that focuses on the health of individuals and communities, with the goal of preventing disease, disability and death. NHS Health Careers in the United Kingdom defines public health as helping people to stay healthy and protecting them from threats to their health. Students learn biostatistics, epidemiology, the planning and evaluation of health services and the management of health care organisations. They also study health protection (clean air, water and food, and the control of infectious disease), health promotion and the reduction of health inequalities.

Qualifications and levels

For doctors, community medicine is a postgraduate specialty taken after a medical degree. Graduates of other subjects reach the same field through degrees in public health or community health.

  • Medical postgraduate degrees. Kathmandu University in Nepal lists Community Medicine among its MD/MS programmes in basic medical sciences, which require an MBBS or equivalent degree in modern medicine. Its School of Medical Sciences also offers a Master of Science in Public Health.
  • United States. The specialty is called Public Health and General Preventive Medicine. The American Board of Preventive Medicine certifies doctors who have completed an accredited residency in it of not less than two years. This comes after medical school; according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, a medical degree takes 4 years after a bachelor's degree, and internship and residency take 3 to 9 years depending on the specialty.
  • United Kingdom. Public health specialty training usually lasts five years and is open to medical and non-medical applicants, according to NHS Health Careers. Entry is competitive: in 2024 there were 1,508 applications for 105 NHS specialty training places.
  • Spain. The bachelor's degree (grado) in Medicine has 360 ECTS credits and takes six years at the Universidad de Alcalá, which states that the residency that follows (MIR) lasts 4 or 5 years depending on the specialty. The official list of health specialties includes Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria and Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública for doctors, and Enfermería Familiar y Comunitaria for nurses.
  • Bachelor's and master's degrees for non-doctors. Universities offer degrees in health, community health and public health, including the Master of Public Health (MPH). The University of New Haven, for example, has an MPH programme that is an applicant for accreditation by the Council on Education for Public Health.

Where to study

SpainExchange lists 16 active schools for community medicine. Eight are in the United States, and Nigeria, Nepal, India, Iraq, Australia, Ukraine, Russia and the United Kingdom have one each.

The medical schools on the list include Kathmandu University, the University of Delhi, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Nigeria, the University of Mosul, Bukovinian State Medical University in Ukraine and Rostov State Medical University in Russia. In the United States the list includes the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Maryland, Saint Louis University, SUNY Cortland, Long Island University, the University of Bridgeport and the University of New Haven. The University of Sunderland in the United Kingdom and Griffith University in Australia are also listed.

Approaches differ. The Department of Family and Community Medicine of Saint Louis University offers medical students a specialised programme focused on community health in urban areas, and its residency programmes train family physicians. SUNY Cortland's Health Department prepares students for health professions outside clinical medicine. Much of the training takes place in health centres and communities, so the local language matters as much as the language of the lectures. Ask each school which qualification it awards and what recognition it has in the country where you plan to work.

Careers

Specialists work in public health departments, government agencies, primary care, hospitals, universities and non-governmental organisations. In the United Kingdom, public health specialists are employed in local and central government, the NHS and universities, and they may or may not hold a medical degree. SUNY Cortland reports that its health graduates work in county health departments, hospitals and other health care facilities and community health organisations.

Official US projections give an idea of demand in related occupations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of epidemiologists, who typically need at least a master's degree, to grow 19 percent from 2025 to 2035, and employment of physicians and surgeons to grow 4 percent over the same period.

Frequently asked questions

Is community medicine the same as public health?

They cover largely the same ground. Community medicine is the name of the medical specialty in countries such as Nepal, while the United States uses Public Health and General Preventive Medicine and Spain has Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública and Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria. Public health is also a wider field that is open to non-doctors.

Do I need a medical degree to study community medicine?

For the medical specialty, yes: the MD/MS in Community Medicine at Kathmandu University requires an MBBS or equivalent degree. Public health degrees are different. In the United Kingdom, public health specialty training is open to non-medical and medical applicants.

How long does the specialty take?

It depends on the country. Public health specialty training in the United Kingdom usually lasts five years, and the US board requires a residency of not less than two years. In Spain, residencies last 4 or 5 years depending on the specialty, according to the Universidad de Alcalá.