Course content

The course PH3000 will address global health issues, predominantly in low and middle income countries. It will provide knowledge of the global burden of diseases and their impact on the health of populations; initiatives for the eradication of diseases; maternal and reproductive health and rights; newborn infant, child, and adolescent health; gender based violence and health consequences; malnutrition and child growth; determinants of health, inequality and inequity in health, and tools to address them; introduction to medical anthropology; cultural perspectives on diseases; human rights and ethical responsibilities; environmental/ecological factors affecting health; familiarization on immunization, vaccines, antibiotic resistance, epidemics and of microbes transmissions (travel, animals, food, trading); different types of health systems; policy issues; health care financing; organization of health care; primary vs. specialized care, centralized vs. decentralized systems and private vs. public solutions; cost-effectiveness analysis of health care interventions; economic evaluation and the special challenges facing low and middle income countries; economic incentives and provider payment.

Learning outcome

Upon completion of the course PH3000 the student is able to:

• identify, describe and analyze important global health problems
• understand the relation between determinants of health and major health problems;
• describe sustainable ways to improve health considering economic, cultural and ethical issues
• describe and assess the global burden of diseases, morbidity, mortality, communicable and non-communicable diseases, and preventive measures; describe and assess women's, maternal, child, sexual reproductive health and rights
• describe and assess health consequences of exposure to violence and war trauma;
• explain the interconnecting causes of global health problems
• describe the Sustainable Development Goals 2015-2035
• present, discuss and communicate major global health issues and critically consider evidence based major interventions improving health
• demonstrate the distribution of ill health and interaction with health determinants, incentives and barriers to improvements, the interrelations between health, cultural, social, ecological and political dimensions
• communicate global health issues and sustainable responses to the multifaceted health challenges
• understand a broad typology of health systems, different models for organization, provision and evaluation of health care
• describe health systems in LMIC, their strengths and weaknesses
• describe and discuss potential positive and negative impacts of policy initiatives
• discuss challenges related to health policy and systems in LMIC
• understand motivation for specific policy initiatives, and to assess their potential implications on quality, efficiency and equity
• understand the major health policy issues and the relevance of these for design and implementation of health policy in LMIC.

Learning methods and activities

Lectures, seminars, group work, written and oral presentations, individual studies. The language of teaching and examination is English.

Compulsory assignments

• Mandatory assignment 1
• Mandatory assignment 2

Specific conditions

Required previous knowledge

Admission to the MSc in Global Health. Exchange students may be accepted after an individual evaluation.

Course materials

Course literature will be presented at the start of the semester.