The Department of Community Health is one of the departments under Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Medical Faculty since its inception in 1972. Since 1997, the Department has also been providing services under Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. In view of its heavy and continually increasing commitments to the Medical Faculty Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and the Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, the Department plans to increase the number of existing staff and physical teaching space. In 2006, 23 lecturers worked for the Department, assisted by 50 support staff and 8 research assistants. The Department requires more lecturers in various specialised fields and more support staff to cater to the variety of on-going and planned educational, research and service programmes.

A new community health education centre will be built in Beranang, Hulu Langat, to provide facilities for the Department's activities. A piece of land has been approved for the project and is expected to be completed under the 9 th Malaysia Plan. All effort undertaken is with the objective of optimising collaborative efforts, spearheaded by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in conjunction with Ministry of Health Malaysia, toward the development of health services for the Hulu Langat District, aspiring to achieve unity for health.

Vision
The Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Malaysia(UKM) is dedicated to being the leading institution nationally and regionally in public health and be recognized as a significant force in preventing disease and promoting health by advancing the theory and practice of public health through the education of public health professionals, conduct of research and provision of services.

Mision
The mission of the Department of Community Health is to work in collabration with other departments in the faculty, other academic institutions, local and international agencies, professional bodies and communities to advance education, research and the service needs of public health. Emphasis will be given in six areas:

• epidemiology and biostatistics
• family health
• health care management
• environmental health
• occupational health
• health promotion

Objectives

To achieve its vision and mission the Department of Community Health has the following objectives:

• The Department's educational objective is to develop, provide and periodically review the educational programs of  public health to ensure continuing excellence. This will ensure that medical students will graduate with an understanding of the basic concepts in the various public health disciplines (epidemiology and biostatistics, family health, health care management, environmental health, occupational health and health promotion). The department will also ensure that highly qualified candidates are recruited and provided with the necessary post graduate training so as to attain the competencies required of public health professionals.
  
  
• The Department's research objectives are to achieve and maintain excellence in reasearch in public health by identifying priority areas for research, developing tools and methods of inquiry and answering questions in the priority areas identified. The department will also foster multi-centre, multi-agency collaborative research in facing the challenges of  public health.
  
  
• The Department's service objectives is to foster the development of community service and collaboration with community based organisations by both students and faculty members. It will provide consultancy research services to local and international agencies and groups.

The Department will achieve its vision and misson by ensuring that the necessary infrastructure and resources to meet the educational, research and service objectives of the departments are provided.