General provisions

The course is part of the Master's Programme in Global Health.

Entry requirements

University degree, minimum of 180 credits, in medicine, nursing, nutrition or another area relevant to global health. All applicants need to verify English language proficiency. This is normally attested by means of an internationally recognised test such as TOEFL or IELTS.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students should be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

• Specify and describe global burden of disease, determinants and their relation to sustainable development.
• Describe basic concepts in global sexual and reproductive health, global child health, food and nutrition security, and migration and humanitarian assistance.
• Outline the magnitude, prevalence and geographical distribution of the main challenges related to maternal, perinatal, sexual and reproductive health, global child health, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, migration and food and nutrition insecurity in low- and middle-income settings and vulnerable populations in high-income settings.
• Describe basic concepts of health systems, including Universal health Coverage.

Competence and skills

• Explain and discuss the social determinants of health and origin of disease and their effect, with special reference to vulnerable groups and the interrelationship with factors such as gender and poverty.
• Understand and describe the basic concepts and methods in quantitative and qualitative research and apply them to specific assignments.
• Search scientific literature, review, and produce scientific text.

Judgement and approach

• Discuss human rights challenges relevant to global health.
• Discuss politics and ehtics of selected global health topics.
• Discuss different scientific paradigms relevant to global health research.

Content

The course consists of three modules: Introduction to global health (15 cr), Research methods I (10 cr), Academic writing (5 cr).

Introduction to global health, 15 cr, includes:

• Global burden of disease
• Agenda 2030 and its relation to health
• Demographic, epidemiological and nutritional transition
• Basic concepts and overview of global sexual and reproductive health, global child health and food and nutrition security
• Basic concepts on the public health aspects of migration an humanitarian assistance
• Foundations of the politics and ethics of global health
• Trends and occurrence of global infectious diseases, and basic principles for prevention and control
• Social determinants of and inequity in health and health care utilization
• Global threats and challenges to health and nutrition
• Overview of health systems and health policy

Research methods I, 10 cr, includes:

• Basic scientific theory
• Theoretical frameworks
• Basic bio-statistical principles and analyses
• Basic epidemiological concepts, measures and designs
• Critically assessment of scientific reports and articles
• Basic principles in qualitative research
• Interview technique

Academic writing, 5 cr, includes:

• Library and on-line resources for global health and research
• Reference handling, formal structures and accuracy
• Literature review in a selected area of global health with relation to Agenda 2030

Instruction

The instruction consists of lectures and compulsory components including literature reviews, seminars and individual and group assignments, and presentations. Critical review of scientific articles are done regularly throughout the course. Sessions are interactive and students are encouraged to draw on their own experiences of global health. All teaching is in English.

Assessment

The assessment is based on:

Written examination, participation in compulsory sessions, oral presentations, assignments. To receive a final grade for the course, the student needs to obtain a pass in the written examination, successfully complete compulsory sessions, oral presentations and assignments. The grades from the course modules will together generate a final weighted grade for the entire course.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator. All examinations are in English.