In 1996, in affiliation with Columbia University's Health Sciences Division, the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev instituted a four- year medical degree program to graduate doctors with special skills in primary care and community, preventive, and population-based medicine.

The Medical School for International Health concentrates on these areas of medicine as they impact on problems of international health and is designed to address emerging issues in health care worldwide. Graduates of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Faculty of Health Sciences Medical School for International Health in collaboration with Columbia University Health Sciences (BGU-CU MSIH) will have the skills to treat individuals, promote health and prevent diseases in populations.

The Medical School for International Health seeks to attain a balance between medical education, medical science, and medical care by emphasizing the human perspective of community medicine and international health. It aims to promote excellence in students who wish to be at the forefront of a new kind of medical education that addresses the need for physicians who are sensitive to personal and population needs, community issues and global concerns. It emphasizes critical knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable practitioners to deliver and manage health care for diverse populations in a culturally sensitive, cost-effective manner.

In addition to cultivating the personal qualities and academic credentials that characterize outstanding physicians, graduates are expected to help shape policies and lead research in international health, primary care, cross-cultural and community medicine. They will be equipped to improve health care systems for diverse populations in their own countries and internationally. To this end, we have identified the following core areas and specific competencies that are integral to the practice of International Health and Medicine in which graduates can expect to gain proficiency.

We consider the following three core areas to be integral to the field of International Health and Medicine; cross cultural issues; program development; and management. Their relation to medicine and to one another is illustrated by the diagram below.

In addition to the standard medical curriculum, students studying for their M.D. degree will be taught about the impact of economic, socio-political, cultural, environmental and policy factors on the health of individuals and populations. They will also learn how to use this knowledge to advance policies to promote health and prevent disease. Graduates of the Medical School for International Health will possess competencies in the following areas:

	Communicating and working effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds
	Making medical and health decisions on behalf of patients and communities with sensitivity to ethical issues of diverse communities.
	Diagnosing, treating and monitoring individual and community health problems and needs
	Delivering culturally sensitive, high quality health care within the framework of the political/economic/cultural conditions of a given community
	Providing medical care to developing communities and under-served areas according to the principles of primary and community care
	Practicing preventive medicine and determining the risks for individuals and populations associated with different environmental, epidemiological, and nutritional conditions
	Playing a leading role in cooperating with, and obtaining help from, appropriate agencies and international health care organizations in response to disasters, epidemics, and other international health crises
	Using medical technology to solve practical medical problems, access medical information resources, and chart the progress of individual patients and/or monitor epidemiological studies

The mission of the Medical School for International Health is:

	To address the need for medical education that focuses on the interface between international health and community and preventive medicine;
	To promote international collaborations on research relating to population health needs in developing countries and the industrialized world;
	To provide a mechanism for the exchange of faculty and students in the area of international health research;
	To train and educate future leaders in international health.