Global Health Course Descriptions 2008-2009
Core Courses
INTS 4367 Global Health Affairs: Theory & Practice - Randall Kuhn This course offers an entry point to the field of Global Health Affairs from a social science and international relations perspective. The main goal of the course is to explore and apply theoretically-grounded frameworks for understanding global health priorities, for designing local and national health interventions, and for understanding the impact of health programs on a range of long- and short-term outcomes. We will explore epidemiologic, economic, social science and international relations perspectives on health determinants, intervention, and impacts. We will explore a broad terrain of interventions, working up from the traditional disease control approach to more recent efforts at health systems development, health security intervention, health governance, and health trade reform. We will place equal emphasis on the long, slow march of human mortality and the flashy world of emerging infectious disease. Most of all each of will work individually and with the group to build and refine our own “theory of change” for assessing and addressing health issues across a wide range of contexts. You will express your theory of change in case study discussion and by designing a service-based research proposal that could be carried out in the near future. INTS 4516 Major Diseases in Global Health: From Pathophysiology to Action – Neena Jain As global health practitioners and policy makers, it is imperative that we each have a complete and solid understanding of the mechanisms, physiology, epidemiology, transmission patterns, and clinical impact of the major diseases affecting global health. How and when does a person transition from simple HIV infection to full-blown AIDS? Why is dracunculiasis so readily amenable to eradication whereas filariasis is not? For what populations is co-infection with HIV and TB or HIV and malaria so critical and why? On the individual patient level, how and why do certain diseases manifest so differently in resource-poor versus resource-rich or urban versus rural settings? Who are the vulnerable populations and how does disease impact them physiologically? When and where would specific program interventions work over other programs and for whom? In this course, the student will develop an understanding of the etiology, agents, vectors, burden, methods of detection, basic treatment complexities, and life cycles of major diseases impacting the world. Specifically, this course will detail HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, maternal/reproductive health, some protozoa, helminthes and major parasites, chronic disease such as cancers and diabetes, and violence/trauma. As there is no shortage of amazing and interesting diseases globally, students will learn a sound method of inquiry with which to address any disease process. Students will also apply this method directly toward program analysis, and in the development of teaching sessions for community health workers.
Skills Courses: Two courses (8 credits)
INTS4483 Practical Applications in Global Health - Neena Jain
The purpose of the course is for the student to be deployed to a field situation as realistically as possible given the constraints of being in Denver. A heavy emphasis is placed on program design, practical issues in implementation, and presentation at the field level. No prior field experience is necessary to attend or to complete this course. This course will be available for students to take either 6-weeks for 3 credits or 10-weeks for 5 credits. In the first 6 weeks of the course, the student will acquire practical knowledge about the following areas of actual health program design and management in the field: research and preparation, creation and development, and implementation and presentation. Students will develop detailed field perspectives, analyze the global implications of their programs, and examine their contribution to the “science of service.” For the subsequent 4 weeks of the course, students will examine and acquire advanced practical skills in human resources management, team building, performance management, staff development, staff care and program management that are vital to lead and manage effective health and development programs. INTS4423 Health Data for Decision Making (5 credits) - Sandy Johnson or Randall Kuhn Health data provide an objective basis for setting priorities, formulating policies, implementing programs, and evaluating their impact. These measurement, analysis, and decision-making tools derive from a diversity of disciplines including demography, epidemiology, medicine, anthropology, and economics. This is not a statistics course or a project evaluation course. Instead, students are encouraged to develop the following basic skills: 1) utilizing and understanding national health indicators, their value and limitations, 2) understanding the relationships between individual and societal measures of health, with an emphasis on demographic adjustments; 3) understanding and reading scientific papers and reports using the common epidemiologic research designs, and assessing their limitations. Finally, students will be encouraged to use evidence-based approaches to translate these basic skills into argument(s) for a particular course of action, thus moving from research to practice.
Elective Courses: Three of the following courses
Health Issues:
INTS 4422 International Health Organizations & Actors (5 credits) - TBA The course will define the major players in international health, including the United Nations, its mandates, and its agencies: the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In addition, a number of non-governmental organizations, foundations (Gates Foundation, Clinton Foundation), multinational corporations and large bilateral donor programs (e.g., USAID) will be examined to develop a basic understanding of their perceived roles, organizational goals and practiced, and effectiveness within the global, country-specific, and local health systems that they operate. INTS4362 Gender and Health (5 credits) - Jill Williams
This course is designed to help students enhance their ability to address the social and cultural factors that influence the design, delivery, reception, and effectiveness of international health programs. A primary goal of the course is to familiarize students with some of the health care policies and programs designed at the international and local level. This approach is intended to provide the background necessary for students to be able to identify how both micro and macro systems of power influence the design, delivery and uptake of health programs. This course will introduce students to theories of gender and health by examining international health inequalities. Gender is defined broadly to include a special focus on women and reproductive health as well as men, masculinity and health. The course will cover important topics such as sex and gender differences in health; gender and HIV/AIDS; and gender, political conflict and health. INTS4368 HIV/AIDS in International Affairs (5 credits) - Jan Dehler This course is designed to provide in-depth analysis of HIV/AIDS as a global health security threat and is for all students interested in HIV/AIDS as both an epidemiological phenomenon and an important issue in every aspect of international affairs. Upon completion of the course, students will understand the concept of global health security; HIV/AIDS as an epidemiological phenomenon; the political and economic costs of HIV/AIDS; and the political, economic, and social contexts of HIV/AIDS in specific regions of the world. INTS4376 Cultures of Health and Healing (3 credits) - Victoria Seligman Healthcare delivery in the developing world is linked to many factors that may be particular to the third world in general and to the particularities of the locale itself. These include general economic and political factors. Additionally, ethic, cultural and religious factors may exercise great influence and creat overt or subtle barriers to healthcare. Gender roles can also vary in different areas of practice. In this course, I will focus on particular areas of the world where I have practiced to highlight anticipated as well as suprising cultural barriers to healthcare. I will also focus on examples of underserved population swithin the United States to highlight how these concepts are not unique at all times to those parts of the world with the least resources. INTS4425 Emerging Diseases in International Affairs (5 credits) - Jan Dehler In the history of humankind, death from disease has far surpassed death from warfare. In this class, students learn how disease has played critical and often history-altering roles in the course of nations. Specifically, this course surveys the epidemiology of infectious diseases in conjunction with outbreaks that have altered the affairs of nation-states. Students taking this course will be able to 1) identify diseases which are becoming prevalent and have great potential for adverse impacts on public health, social, political and economic systems; 2) understand historical impacts of diseases and epidemics and potential for 21st Century epidemics and pandemics; 3) identify means to recognize, track, treat and mitigate effects of emerging diseases; and 4) identify potential limits and concerns in managing disease outbreaks in specific regions of the world at the regional, national and international levels INTS4481 Scientific and Medical Challenges in International Affairs (3 credits)
Shadi Farhangrazi The student will acquire knowledge about the major medical and scientific challenges faced in the area of global health. Students will learn about complexities and challenges in finding realistic medical solutions to HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB and malnutrition as well as infectious diseases. The course will also offer more in depth understanding of medical and scientific solutions and challenges, looked at by global health organizations in areas like nutrition and clean and safe water. The course also discusses international policies, regulatory obstacles and social factors related to tackling the medical and scientific challenges faced in global health. The intent is to develop a framework of understanding diseases from their scientific fundamentals to clinical factors. Funding issues and organizations involved in the efforts will also be discussed. INTS 4512 Ethics in Development, Health & Humanitarian Assistance (5 credits) Neena Jain and Sandy Johnson William Butler Yeats wrote, “In dreams begins responsibility.” Dreams and an imagination as to what life could be underpin ideals of development, health and humanitarian assistance. When one confronts the world such as it is, one need determine what s/he feels reality could become and work to make is so. But in attempting to realize such dreams come a responsibility to act based on a set of values or ethics. These ethics guide the perception of right and wrong, black and white, which in turn dictate action. They may be legally codified as rules or remain principles which operate in conjunction with, or opposition to, the law. This course is designed to prepare students to proactively identify personal and professional values across different actors and institutes, to assess the ethical basis of actions and programs, and to build project management strategies based on shared values. INTS4498 Community, Networks, and Place in Health/Devel (5 credits) – Phyllis Updike The aim of this course is to explore global health challenges and solutions from the perspective of the community. Faculty presentation, case studies, active participant exchange, and student facilitated topical discussions will comprise the course teaching-learning strategies. A primary goal is to provide an exploration of community health definitions, priorities, and organizing networks as influenced by local and global driving forces to include political, social technical and environmental factors. The unfortunate and escalating burden of war and unresolved conflict will be examined in regard to consequences to health status and function. Lastly the skill development of professional communication techniques designed to evoke essential health data in a meaningful, ethical manner will be presented and rehearsed in class. Care of the care providers will create the capstone and synthesis to the course. INTS4535 Comparative Health Systems Regardless of who we are, where we live, and what we believe, we are all born, we all age, and at various points in time, we all get sick thus making health a universal concern and a universal human right. While our concern about health may be universal, the experience of sickness and health is not. The reality of limited human and fiscal resources for health care provision creates a diverse landscape of choice and outcomes. Globally, nations are confronting a health care
crisis as policy makers consider trade-offs between differing paradigms of public responsibility and resource allocation. A central concern for public policy is thus, “At what cost, health?” It is with this in mind that we will explore dominant models of health care financing and delivery. We will first look at the ethical, philosophical, and economic questions which underpin public healthcare policy. We will then explore the specific models of health care financing and delivery currently used in the United States. Next, we will compare the principles and mechanisms of health care in the U.S. to those in the United Kingdom. We will conclude by examining pluralistic health care (and change) in the context of resource poor nations.
Health Interactions:
INTS4435 Health and Development (5 credits) - Sandy Johnson Health and development are held to be symbiotic in the production of economic and human wellbeing. However, the concept of health varies across context, institutions, geographies, and scale. This course will focus on the meaning, measurement, financing and delivery of ‘health care’ and the interaction of human well-being with other aspects of development. This course will explore dominant models of health and development, what assumptions inform these models, and who is left uncounted within the development focus. Macro-level embodiment will be contrasted to the meaning of health within a local context. The exchange between development policies and health interventions will be explored. As the class moves between world- and local-views, we will explore how the same illness can have many causes – from microbes to structural violence. INTS4492 Health and Humanitarian Aid (5 credits) - Neena Jain The Sphere Project defines the following issues as the key sectors in humanitarian emergencies with minimum standards set for each: Water supply, sanitation, and hygiene/environmental health; food security, nutrition, and food aid; shelter and non-food items; health and health services; communicable and non-communicable diseases. Drawing on this division of key sectors, the course will be divided into modules based on each, with particular attention as to how each of these sectors directly and indirectly impacts health.This course aims to examine current organizational standards such as the Sphere Project, best-practice scenarios from ICRC, IRC, MSF and many other humanitarian organizations, and lessons learned from recent and historical humanitarian crises. Utilizing a case-based and problem-based format, students will gain and apply knowledge through critically examination of issues and development of practical solutions. INTS4531 Health Issues in Response and Recovery (3 credits) – Jan Dehler Natural disasters, terrorism and other events create not only cause immediate devastation but long-term complications for responders, decision-makers and residents alike. How will issues of personal health and safety, and public health and security, are addressed in a “crisis” mode? When day-to-day operations healthcare, social and political systems are stressed, how will they function in times of disaster? This course will examine systems, policies, and procedures in governmental, private and other non-governmental organizations in response and recovery to
notable events. In additional to functional components of response and recovery, health care and public health systems will be studied for conceptual and operational improvements. INTS4465 Population and Society (5 credits) - Randall Kuhn Population can play a key role in defining the fates of societies, yet Auguste Comte's notion that "demography is destiny" has been subject to two centuries of oversimplification, misinterpretation, and manipulation. This course seeks to reverse key misconceptions and open up new avenues of inquiry through an indepth look at the key elements of population -population size and growth, demographic events, and population structure -- and their relationship to development, security, health, the environment, and human rights. The course will begin with a look at theories on the relationship between population and the fates of societies from Malthus to Marx to the present day. In doing so we will move from thinking of population change in aggregate to considering the impact of three demographic events -- birth, death, and migration -- that occur according to highly measurable and predictable age and sex patterns. Armed with a powerful conception of demographic change as a product of population structures and events we will explore the implications of demographic shifts and long-term demographic structures for national and global outcomes under a range of political, economic, and social conditions. We will use case studies to address salient issues such as the limits to the human life span; prospects for reversing or mitigating the effects of very low fertility; the consequences of coercive solutions to population control; prospects for global migration; and the impact of HIV/AIDS on society. INTS4353 Sustainable Development and Environment (5 credits) - Sandy Johnson Environmental change, societal and economic development, communal mores and political factors operate together and impact local, national, regional and global ecosystems. Like the proverbial butterfly flapping its wings and causing a typhoon halfway around the world, geographically focal movement in society, economy, etc. can resonate across national boundaries and alter the ecosystem near and far. The question becomes, “At what cost growth?” Adherents of ecocentric and anthropocentric ideologies find themselves at odds in terms of prioritizing and managing development for current and future generations. Does a society develop based on increasing consumption alone, at the loss of environment and diversity, or does it chose a more sustainable path even though it may mean slower growth? Can such a decision be made in isolation from global forces? This course will introduce students to a range of theories, policies and practices relating to sustainable development. Case studies such as climate change and disaster mitigation will be used to better highlight the variance between local and global vulnerabilities, and capacities for achieving a sustainable future. The end goal for class is for students to work in sectors such as agriculture, energy and water to develop and ‘adopt’ best practices for sustainable development. INTS4953 Mental Health, Human Rights and Post-Conflict Dev. (5 credits) – Peter Van Arsdale This course is intended to build upon the primary areas of applied research which I have engaged in during the past 25 years: Health/mental health, human rights/refugees, and
international/community development. The course’s purpose is to provide graduate students with an integrated theoretical orientation to the intersection of health/mental health and human rights, as these “play out” in the context of international development work. In this regard, it also is intended to contribute to GSIS’ Global Health Affairs program concentration. The course is built upon three foundations, explicated through three modules that emphasize both theory and practice. Extensive use will be made of case studies, including those derived from my own work in Ethiopia, Indonesia, Peru, El Salvador, Bosnia, and the U.S. It should be noted that the work of several GSIS graduates also will be featured, these to include Dean Piedmont, Rita Bolstad, Lisa Schechtman, Sandra Sirota, and Robert Tibbetts. INTS4983 Healthcare, Homeland Security, and Global Terrorism (5 credits) - Jan Dehler Healthcare institutions have flourished for years in their own independent “environment of care,” linking centuries of traditional values and training with cutting-edge technologies and mandates for cost controls, quality performance and legal constraints. On many levels these institutions now are being challenged to “catch up” in a new world of national security and global health issues. What are the health care threats -- agents of bioterrorism, chemical or radiological substance exposure, or other massive events? How do current planning efforts for emergencies and natural disasters help us prepared for terrorism or catastrophic-scale events? How do preparedness and security efforts in the US compare to those of other nations, and what can we learn from attacks here and abroad? What are opportunities and constraints facing medical professionals, and how do institutions integrate with Homeland Security directives for “awareness, prevention, preparedness, response and recovery” in their efforts? This course will utilize many case studies in disasters and terrorism to examine the infrastructure and operations of health care systems, security breaches, and lessons learned from response efforts in the US and abroad.
Advanced Methods:
INTS4552 Communications for Development/Health (5 credits) - TBA Professional roles in health and development often require a myriad of communication skills when working with the various stakeholders involved. This course covers approaches and methodology required to deal with public sector players, NGO’s, international donors and the private sector. We will discuss the politics of wise and efficient external communications. This course will cover the various forms of integrated marketing communications knowledge necessary when managing programs or working collaboratively with any international development program requiring marketing, including marketing strategy, advertising, sales promotion, public relations, basic research methods and interpersonal communications with various key players in international development. One student project is required by end of quarter and we will use frequent case studies from development initiatives in Asia and Africa. Grades will be reflected as follows: 50% class work and participation/25% class project/25% final exam. INTS4305 Social Marketing for Health and Development (5 credits) - TBA
This course will study the models, approaches, components and applications of Social Marketing in the Developing World to address public health issues. Class sessions will be a combination of lecture, group discussion, student presentation and in-class exercises. We will use case studies from development initiatives in Asia and Africa. Reading assignments are required and will be part of class discussion. One student project is required by end of quarter and Grades will be reflected as follows: 50% class work and participation/25% class project/25% final exam. Jill Bausch is an adjunct professor also working in the field of international development in Asia and Africa. This work may require Professor Bausch to miss one class session. This will either be made up through a student assignment or a guest speaker. The syllabus may be subject to change depending on the level of skill and experience within the class. Short papers are required for most class, in addition to reading assignments.