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Global Health Policy


Course Description

An interdisciplinary public policy approach to understanding policies, programs, and interventions in global health. Students will examine the policymaking process, the institutions and norms of global health governance, examples of both successful and flawed policies and interventions, and evaluate the extent to which policies impact global health indicators.


Athena Title

Global Health Policy


Prerequisite

GLOB 3100 or GLOB 3100E


Semester Course Offered

Offered spring


Grading System

A - F (Traditional)


Course Objectives

• Define the social, political, and economic determinants of global health • Identify the evolving cast of actors who structure and influence global health policy, including national institutions; international organizations; NGOs, private interests, and global partnerships • Evaluate the ethical, moral, and legal norms that inform global health governance • Understand the policymaking process for global health • Conduct policy analysis for specific global health problems, e.g., food insecurity, maternal mortality, increasing rates of noncommunicable diseases, environmental health, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, migration • Assess the processes by which global health governance and international policy impact global health indicators • Evaluate the effects of specific policies on underlying determinants of health


Topical Outline

1. What is global health policy? 2. Architecture or anarchy—new structures and the changing cast of actors in the global health system 3. Globalization and its effects on health policy at the national and international levels 4. Normative frameworks for global health policy—human rights, individual rights, ethics 5. Global health diplomacy and the policymaking process 6. Examples of issues and conflicts in global health governance, e.g., control of communicable diseases (International Health Regulations), prevention of noncommunicable diseases (convention on tobacco control), health promotion (breastfeeding, water, and nutrition guidelines) 7. Economic policy, economic development, and trade regimes' impact on global health


Syllabus