Introductory description

This is a five-day intensive module delivered over 2 weeks; including lectures, seminars, and workshops.

This module is linked to a community of the European University Alliance EUTOPIA. Through this module, you will have the opportunity to engage with EUTOPIA in ways appropriate for the module’s learning outcomes. For further information, see the department’s module webpage.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Online Learning resources (interactive learning materials on the basic principles of Public Health):

• The global burden of disease [Prof Noel McCarthy, WMS]
• The social determinants of health including economic, psychosocial, educational, nutritional, environmental determinants; measures of deprivation; determinants of inequality and the impact of social and political forces [Dr Wolf Markham, WMS]
• What is Evidence-Based Medicine? [Dr Deborah Biggerstaff, WMS]

The module will consist of 5 days sessions for students. The module leader(s) will attend all of each session, to integrate and stimulate the interdisciplinary learning.

The core design is that each day the module leader(s) and subject specialists will choose how they wish to deliver a combination of discipline or application grounded material with activities that will allow the students (with the module leader) to develop their learning in an interdisciplinary style that will help them to explore and deepen their knowledge of that day’s theories and set texts/materials.

Teaching will be shared with the MPH course to aid interdisciplinarity. Linkages are identified across the diverse topics covering the three main facets of Public Health: Health protection, Health improvement and Health services in a global context.

(DRAFT PROGRAMME & PRESENTERS):
Day One: Introduction to Global Health

• Introduction to the module, assessments and the Global Health Agenda
• Introducing the United Nations, the World Health Organisation and the Sustainable Development Goals
• An introduction to Ethical principles in global health
• Group work to prepare for group presentations
  Day Two: Health Protection
• Summary of previous day and finding the linkages
• Outbreak investigation & notifiable disease surveillance seminar including aspects of outbreak/incident detection, identifying causes, risk communication and control strategies
• Resilience and the health responses in an emergency seminar (examining natural disasters, war, terrorism and pandemics in high, middle and low income settings)
• Group work to prepare for group presentations
  Day Three: Healthy Cities
• Summary of previous day and finding the linkages
• Urbanisation and ‘slum’ health seminar including the sociology and health problems and how to improve the health and welfare of these populations
• City design to improve mental health and wellbeing seminar including
  -The impact of the built environment on health inequalities and mental health
  -The impact of scenic environments on our health and happiness and
  -Global Cities
• Group work to prepare for group presentations
  Day Four: Food Security and the Right-to-food
• Summary of previous day and finding the linkages
• Food security seminar including
  -Challenges of global food security providing an understanding of the elements contributing to the food security agenda to provide affordable, safe and nutritious food within a global perspective
  -What is Agri-health and why is it important? [IFSTAL Network]
• The right to food seminar - Identifying the responsibilities of states regarding the right to food and global barriers impacting on those who want to feed themselves as well as the global progress of legislating the right to food
• Poster workshop
• Group work to prepare for group presentations
  Day Five: Gender Equality and Health Services
• Summary of previous day and finding the linkages
• Universal coverage and accessibility to health services
• Gender equality
• The magnitude and economic and health-related consequences of medical tourism
• GROUP PRESENTATIONS + PEER FEEDBACK
  Virtual Poster Exhibition
• SUBMIT VIRTUALLY AND ENGAGEMENT WITH DISCUSSION FORUM ONLINE TO POSE AND ANSWER QUESTIONS

Learning outcomes

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

• 1. Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the global burden of disease and social determinants of health.
• 2. Identify key global health challenges relating to Health protection, Health improvement and Health services.
• 3. Critique existing policy and practice and formulate creative and practical solutions to global health issues.
• 4. Conduct a health impact assessment.
• 5. Develop their communication skills by delivering a presentation and developing a scientific conference style poster.
• 6. Work effectively in teams and across disciplines.
• 7. Develop research skills of evidence synthesis and critical appraisal.

Indicative reading list

Illustrative Bibliography (Guidance only as most current evidence will be used as essential reading)

International Health Policy, medical ethics and evidence-based medicine

1. UN Sustainable Development Goals: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
2. 2010 WHO Co: The Social Determinants of Care http://www.who.int/social_determinants/thecommission/finalreport/en/
3. Marmot M. et al (2008) Commission on social determinants of health - final report. WHO, Geneva. http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/124464/E94370.pdf
4. GBD 2015 SDG Collaborators. Measuring the health-related Sustainable Development Goals in 188 countries: a baseline analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. Lancet (London, England). 2016 Oct;388(10053):1813-1850. http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27665228.
   Health Protection
5. Adams DA, Thomas KR, Jajosky R, et al. Summary of Notifiable Infectious Diseases and Conditions — United States, 2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016;63:1-152 http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6354a1
6. Public Health England. Notifiable diseases and causative organisms: how to report. May 2010. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/notifiable-diseases-and-causative-organisms-how-to-report
7. Fallah MP, Skrip LA, Gertler S, Yamin D, Galvani AP. Quantifying Poverty as a Driver of Ebola Transmission. PLoS neglected tropical diseases. 2015 Dec;9(12). http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26720278.
   Healthy Cities
8. 2016 Lancet Series on Slum Health http://www.thelancet.com/series/slum-health
9. Sallis JF, Bull F, Burdett R, Frank LD, Griffiths P, Giles-Corti B, et al. Use of science to guide city planning policy and practice: how to achieve healthy and sustainable future cities. Lancet (London, England). 2016 Sep; http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27671670.

Food security & Right-to-food
10. Food and human rights in development Volume 1 Chapter 3 - Wenche Barth Eide “From Food Security to the Right to Food” (Pg 67-93)
11. FAO The Right to Food resources - http://www.fao.org/righttofood/knowledge-centre/en/
12. Paris Agreement. UN treaty. https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVII-7-d&chapter=27&clang=_en
Gender-equality and health services
13. WHO (2011) The world health report - health systems financing: the path to universal coverage. WHO, Geneva http://www.who.int/whr/2010/en/

Research element

Develop research skills of evidence synthesis and critical appraisal.

Interdisciplinary

The module adopts an interdisciplinary teaching approach. Students from a wide variety of disciplinary and professional backgrounds will attend this module, enabling them to explore topics from a range of different perspectives.

International

The module covers global health matters and covers the role of the United Nations and the World Health Organisation and introduces students to the Sustainable Development Goals. In addition, the module covers issues of international concern such as pandemics, slum health and the impact of global food security on the provision of affordable, safe and nutritious food.

Subject specific skills

1. Formulate creative and practical solutions to global health issues.
2. Conduct a health impact assessment.

Transferable skills

1. Apply problem solving skills, information retrieval, and the effective use of general IT facilities
2. Communicate (written and oral; to technical and non-technical audiences) and work with others
3. Exercise initiative and personal responsibility, including time management, which may be as a team member or leader
4. Awareness of the nature of business and enterprise in the creation of economic and social value
5. Overcome difficulties by employing skills, knowledge and understanding in a flexible manner
6. Ability to formulate and operate within appropriate codes of conduct, when faced with an ethical issue
7. Appreciation of the global dimensions of engineering, commerce and communication
8. Be professional in their outlook, be capable of team working, be effective communicators, and be able to exercise responsibility and sound management approaches.