Established in 1993, the School of Public Health is unique in many respects both in South Africa and in the continent

• Academic programme: popular in South Africa and other African countries for its flexible, modular, part-time design and growing array of distance learning materials. The school offers a postgraduate diploma, Master's and PhD programme in public health.
• Annual Summer and Winter Schools: probably the largest continuing  education programme in Public Health in Africa, having trained over 12 000 participants since 1992.
• Designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Human Resource for Health Development since 2004.
• Hosts two NRF SARChI Chairs in Prof. Asha George (Health Systems, Complexity and Social Change) and Prof. Helen Schneider (Health Systems Governance).
• Houses a South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Extramural Research Unit on Health Services to Systems.
• Most research focuses on health policy and systems; social determinants of health; building a district-based public health system; and pharmaceutical public health.