Aims

The first half of 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. In the second half of this module students develop a more sophisticated understanding of global health issues and challenges, by ‘drilling down’ into a number of specific topics.

Outline Of Syllabus

•       The first half of the module provides an introduction and broad overview of these topics:

• Introduction to global health: Issues and concepts
• 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 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

The second half of the module addresses topics including:
•       The AIDS pandemic and global health: How and why AIDS changed everything
•       Neglected tropical diseases
•       Trade, health, and access to essential medicines
•       The political economy of nutrition transitions and implications for non-communicable diseases
•       How gender works in global health
•       Health economics and equity in global perspective
•       Metropolitan health in global context: why cities matter
•       Migration, conflict and health
•       COVID-19 and the prospect of a lost decade of development
•       Health inequalities in global context: why some settings are ‘resource-poor’ and others not

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. The main form of interaction will involve small group teaching focused on questions related to the week’s module talk materials and readings. This is rather close to a conventional lecture/seminar format as widely used in the social sciences. Students will be encouraged to contact module leader on a one-to-one or group basis (virtually) if they are unfamiliar with this format. To bring all the students to a similar level of comprehension, students will be asked to read and prepare prior to the synchronous lectures and the small group discussions. It will be emphasised that such reading and preparation are especially important in a hybrid learning environment with a substantial virtual component. Two synchronous module talks will take the form of a formative surgery on the assessment. Module leader will also be available for online drop-in Zoom sessions if there is demand.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The first written assignment, which is also the sole assessment for HSC8056, will test students' knowledge, understanding and capacity for critical analysis of key issues in global health by way of structured questions that require substantial reference to relevant scientific literature, and demand critical thinking and writing skills that emphasise contrasting perspectives on one or more global health issues of contemporary concern.
students’ knowledge, understanding and capacity for critical analysis of key issues of global health, by way of a structured question that requires substantial reference to relevant scientific literature and demands critical thinking skills that emphasise contrasting perspectives on one or more global health issues of contemporary concern. The second assignment tests similar abilities by way of an in-depth examination of an issue or topic covered in the module. Students will thus have an opportunity to pursue their own distinctive interests within a rigorous analytical framework.


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