UEP 248 Global Public Health

The course will examine major global public health problems and the range of responses from international organizations transnational networks and domestic and community-based institutions. Despite improvements in the health status of low- and middle-income countries over the last half-century the challenges to advance global public health remain daunting. What are the sorts of strategies these actors have used in addressing such health issues as HIV/AIDS malaria unsafe food and water tobacco use and others? What is the role of human rights in addressing the underlying determinants of ill-health? The course will present basic concepts for understanding global public health including morbidity mortality demography epidemiology and the political social and economic determinants of health. We will utilize a case study method to examine successful and less successful efforts to improve global health and to debate enduring political economic social and cultural controversies in the arenas of global health. Students can expect to gain knowledge of the major issues and actors in global public health and an introduction to the analytic and quantitative skills needed to monitor and evaluate evidence used in formulating policies and programs.