EPDC brings together over 20 years of thinking, research and hard work, led by the world-famous Department of Health Policy and Administration, a department of the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The seed was planted in 1973 when an international meeting, jointly organized by UNC and WHO, asked for innovations to improve managerial know-how in developing countries.
Ten years later, a second international meeting sponsored by the World Bank, USAID and UNC came to the conclusion that Western management education often did not apply to the developing world. This meeting ended with a call for bold new initiatives to address the problem.
UNC responded with a major initiative. A study seeded by the Kellogg Foundation mapped differences in the ideal manager profiles of sixty-two developed and developing countries.
At the same time, the university refined its Carolina Simulation Method (CASIM), created with help from the Ford Foundation to model real-life management scenarios specific to the developing world. CASIM is now the primary teaching method of the program. Finally, UNC won a competitive USAID grant to create the EPDC, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR) in Jaipur. The EPDC is currently regarded by USAID as one of the top collabative programs within the Universities Developing Linkages Program (UDLP).
With further support from the Rockefeller Foundation, UNFPA and the Ford Foundation, and with the guidance of an Inter-Country Advisory Council made up of senior health officials from developing countries, the program has earned respect world-wide--and won a national award for excellence in 1994, from NUCEA.
EPDC's international reputation reflects the program's relevance and innovation, and its commitment to world health.
If you have comments or suggestions about the website, send email to: hpaacrs@hubble.sph.unc.edu