Module Catalogue 2024/25

HSC8056 : Introduction to Global Health

HSC8056 : Introduction to Global Health

  • Offered for Year: 2024/25
  • Module Leader(s): Dr Colin Millard
  • Lecturer: Dr Malcolm Moffat
  • Owning School: Population Health Sciences
  • Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Semester 1 Credit Value: 10
ECTS Credits: 5.0
European Credit Transfer System
Pre-requisite

Modules you must have done previously to study this module

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co-Requisite

Modules you need to take at the same time

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

This interdisciplinary module introduces students to current global health issues, focusing (a) on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs); (b) on the expanding range of actors in today's increasingly complicated health policy landscape; and (c) on the web of global interconnections that link developments and choices in the high-income world with the fates of people elsewhere. The module emphasizes development of critical perspectives on global health issues, and familiarity with the wealth of available information on global health issues. It comprises the first half of the 20-credit module on Global Health (HSC8057)

Outline Of Syllabus

The module will provide an introduction and broad overview of these topics:

•       Introduction to global health: Issues and concepts
• Health inequalities and global patterns of health and illness: how we measure and compare
• Developing critical perspectives on global health
•       Key actors in global health (incl. the World Health Organization, World Bank, development assistance
agencies, major philanthropies, transnational corporations)
•       Key information sources in global health: Where to go to find out more
•       The Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals
• The AIDS pandemic and global health: How and why AIDS changed everything
•       The double burden of disease
• Development assistance for health
• Basic issues in health system design and universal health coverage (UHC)
•       Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic
•       Women’s health in global perspective
•       Globalisation and health
•       Health ethics in resource poor settings
•       Global health in the Anthropocene: Global environmental change

Learning Outcomes

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

At the end of the module students should:

• Be familiar with the major differences in patterns of health and illness across the world
•       Be familiar with the major actors in the global health policy landscape, and understand how and why that
landscape has changed over time
•       Be able to describe the influence of social, economic and political factors on health, health
inequalities and access to health care in developing countries.

Intended Skill Outcomes

By the end of the module students should be able to:

•       Access information on global health and health policy from various sources
•       Critically assess current challenges of health and health care faced by developing countries, and their
relation with policies made in the high income world
•       Think and write critically about major global health policy issues and challenges, using a variety of
credible information sources.

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities
Category Activity Number Length Student Hours Comment
Structured Guided LearningLecture materials31:003:00Non-synchronous online
Guided Independent StudyAssessment preparation and completion371:0037:00Essay assignment
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesLecture121:0012:00Present in person
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesLecture11:301:30Present in person
Guided Independent StudyIndependent study145:0045:00Reading as background for lecture materials and preparation for small group seminars
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesModule talk11:301:30Present in person: Formative surgery on the summative assessment
Total100:00
Jointly Taught With
Code Title
HSC8057Global Health
Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Emphasis is on presentation of background material and case studies from developing countries in order to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the basic concepts and issues of global health. Presentation will be structured to be as interactive as possible, with opportunities for small group work as appropriate. . To bring all the students to a similar level of comprehension, students will be asked to read and prepare prior to the lectures. The module talk will take the form of a formative surgery on the assessment, in which students discuss queries about the summative assessment, either submitted in advance or provided on the day, no written feedback is provided but the session is recorded for reference. Module leader will also be available for online drop-in Zoom sessions if there is demand.

Reading Lists

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment
Description Semester When Set Percentage Comment
Essay1M1002000 words maximum
Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The written assignment will test students' knowledge, understanding and capacity for critical analysis of key issues in global health by way of structured questions that requires substantial reference to relevant scientific literature and demands critical thinking and writing skills that emphasise contrasting perspectives on one or more global health issues of contemporary concern.

A formative 'surgery' will be held on the essay assignment.

Timetable

Past Exam Papers

General Notes

N/A

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Disclaimer

The information contained within the Module Catalogue relates to the 2024 academic year.

In accordance with University Terms and Conditions, the University makes all reasonable efforts to deliver the modules as described.

Modules may be amended on an annual basis to take account of changing staff expertise, developments in the discipline, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback. Module information for the 2025/26 entry will be published here in early-April 2025. Queries about information in the Module Catalogue should in the first instance be addressed to your School Office.