Courses
The course descriptions below are correct to the best of our knowledge as of August 2012. Instructors reserve the right to update and/or otherwise alter course descriptions as necessary after publication. The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. The Course Rotation Guide lists the expected semester a course will be taught. Paper copies are also available in the BUSPH Registrar’s office. Please refer to the published schedule of classes for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.
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SPH IH 720: Social and Behavioral Sciences in International Public Health
Public health professionals know what behaviors contribute to health; however, they know less about why people fail to adopt healthy practices. This course is based on the premise that the more we understand about why people behave the way they do, the more successful we will be as we develop and implement programs and policies designed to improve health. This course uses psychology, sociology and anthropology to improve our understanding of the determinants of health behavior and will provide an introduction to a variety of health behavior theories and basic qualitative research methods. Our intent is to develop practical strategies for understanding the social and behavioral foundations of public health, enabling us to plan effective interventions. Working individually and in groups, students will use conceptual frameworks such as BEHAVE to help identify a public health problem, select a target audience, conduct basic qualitative research to determine facilitators and barriers to engaging in a given practice, and propose several behavior change and communications (BCC) strategies based on an assessment of the situation. This course is intended to provide students a foundation for future coursework in program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The three sections of IH 720 that are offered in the Fall (as well as SB 721) focus more heavily on the contributions of psychology and sociology while the Spring section emphasizes anthropology. All IH concentrators and international, nonresident students who are not SB concentrators may substitute IH 720 for the behavioral sciences MPH core requirement, SB 721. Students who have taken SB 721 may not take this course for degree credit. Preference is given to IH concentrators for registration. -
SPH IH 735: Gender, Sexuality, Power, & Inequity in International Health
This course explores the socio-cultural, economic and political contexts in which people live their lives and how these, and local and large-scale forces of structural violence (inequity, marginalization and gender discrimination) impact health and development. Course readings and discussions examine how these forces constitute immediate and fundamental risk factors and must therefore be considered and addressed as part of any effort to improve public health. Course format: seminar with topics introduced by professor and guest lecturers. -
SPH IH 741: International Health Consultation Techniques
This course will prepare students for consulting and technical assistance assignments in developing countries. Students learn to analyze the pros and cons of potential consulting assignments and prepare proposals. The potential conflicts between donors/sponsors and the agency receiving the consulting services will be considered. Assignments considered include financial analysis, operational improvements, training and program evaluation. Cross cultural issues and the problems of operating in remote areas are discussed. This course is for foreign nationals returning to their own countries and US citizens/residents who will seek international assignments with USAID contractors or NGOs. During this intensive one week course, students prepare a proposal in response to an actual RFP (Request for Proposal) as well as a presentation summarizing findings of a major consulting or research assignment Students interested in consulting in the US should take PM741. -
SPH IH 743: Implementing Health Programs in Developing Countries: Making Programs Work
As professionals working in low and middle income countries, we often end up running programs we did not design, which are under-financed, and which face enormous implementation challenges. In this course, students will work with a specifically identified health program that is currently being implemented and conduct systems analyses, undertake problem solving exercises, and propose solutions to real implementation challenges in the field. Ultimately they will be able to prioritize the interventions necessary to effectively run a complex health program in such diverse situations as urban slums and dispersed rural areas in developing countries and be prepared to plan the actions to effectively run those programs. This course is directed towards students in the health management emphasis area and is not suitable for students in their first semester of studies. Students who will particularly benefit from this course are foreign nationals returning to their own countries and U.S.citizens or residents who will provide technical assistance through NGOs or other agencies to implement existing health programs. -
SPH IH 744: Program Design for International Health
Developing a structured approach to program design is an important skill for public health professionals. IH744 provides an opportunity to learn and apply the key steps of program design. The course invites students to work with an international non-governmental organization to design a public health program. The non-governmental organization will orient student consultant teams with a scope of work that will contain guidelines for developing a program for the organization and identifying prospective donors for funding. To complete the scope of work, each team will identify and describe a relevant public health problem and apply evidenced based solutions to address the problem(s). Course work will also sharpen the knowledge and the skills required for working effectively in a team and students will learn to reflect on individual and team performance. Students will be introduced to e-portfolio and will use it to document their knowledge and skills in program design. -
SPH IH 745: Monitoring and Evaluation of International Health Programs
There is consensus within the international public health community that inadequate project monitoring and evaluation (M&E) represents a major constraint in programmatic efforts to address the problems we face. The absence of sound M&E processes in large numbers of public health projects, despite continued evidence of their value in assessing and improving project performance, suggests that many project planners and managers may not yet have the necessary skills or understanding to develop and operate such systems. This course is designed to help address this need. This course provides a detailed analysis of program monitoring and evaluation with an emphasis on public health and nutrition-related projects. By reading relevant literature and using case studies, students will gain an understanding of the language and tools of program evaluation. The course will focus both on theory and practical utilization, and will consist of presentations, discussions, and applied exercises involving the preparation and critiquing of monitoring and evaluation plans. -
SPH IH 752: The Effect of Gender on Men's Health: A Global Perspective
Although "gender and health" is often assumed to refer to women's health, men's gender roles have serious effects on their health, worldwide. In this course, we will consider the health of men, compared to women, and among men of diverse characteristics and settings. Two major perspectives will be epidemiology and social science. We will explore global patterns of disease and disease risk for men, and the reasons for these patterns, and interventions that might improve men's health. -
SPH IH 753: Beyond Reproductive Health: International Women's Health
While reproductive health problems are major contributors to the burden of disease among women, in this course we will examine a variety of other causes of mortality and morbidity among women in developing countries. We will also investigate the many ways in which social factors affect women?s exposure to health hazards and access to health care. Topics will include occupational health, smoking, mental health, infectious and chronic diseases, and violence. This course is suitable for new MPH students. -
SPH IH 755: Managing Disasters and Complex Humanitarian Emergencies
This course will provide students with a solid introductory understanding of disasters and complex emergencies and introduce practical responses and interventions. By the end of the course, students will be able to describe human and natural emergencies and their main causes, articulate and conduct public health assessments, prioritize needs, and plan immediate and long-term interventions. Class discussions will also focus on analyzing and anticipating the consequences of emergencies. -
SPH IH 757: Fighting Corruption Through Accountability & Transparency
Corruption and lack of accountability in government are concerns in all countries, but they are especially critical problems in developing and transitioning countries where public resources are already scarce and corruption can cripple growth and development. In international health work, most public health practitioners will encounter corruption at some point and will need to make ethical and management decisions about how to work within corrupt systems and how to prevent corruption from occurring. This course is designed to introduce participants to the problem of corruption and provide them with skills for assessing vulnerabilities to corruption in the health sector. Topics covered include corruption risks in drug procurement and supply, medical conflicts of interest, informal payments, and financial corruption. Participants will acquire the confidence, knowledge, and skills needed to become effective advocates for anti-corruption strategies and health system reforms. -
SPH IH 758: Mental Health in Disaster Settings
War and violent conflict inflict significant mental trauma on survivors: people living in post-conflict settings are exposed to constant stresses in their daily life and are often subjected to violence, sexual assault, imprisonment and torture. The effects may persist for years afterward, leading to substance abuse, depression, social and economic difficulties or suicide. Incidents of genocide, mass murder or starvation are particularly damaging to the human psyche. This course will cover the goals and structure of emergency programs that attend to the mental health needs of survivors of violent conflict, from the point of view of the program manager, but including an overview of the psychology of trauma and of the principle psychotherapeutic techniques used in the field by disaster relief agencies. Students will be introduced to variables affecting vulnerability and resilience including age, gender, culture and role?as relief workers, soldiers, perpetrators, etc. Participants will also learn about emergency interventions with severe stress reactions and preventative care to avert long-term problems, and how to plan for, implement, monitor, and evaluate mental health interventions and psychosocial programs for communities that have suffered collectively. -
SPH IH 762: Essentials of Economics and Finance for International Health
This course is an introduction to the essential concepts and tools of health economics and financing with application to the particular challenges facing transitional and developing countries. The course does not assume prior training in economics and will provide an introduction to the conceptual underpinnings of health economics, highlighting those concepts that will be most useful in applied policy settings. Case studies will focus on practical application to current international health financing policy problems. -
SPH IH 766: Reproductive & Sexual Health in Disaster Settings
Of the millions of people displaced by armed conflict around the world, 65-80% are women and children. In recent armed conflicts, women have been the targets of exploitation, rape, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, and other types of gender-based violence. These violent acts have implications on women?s reproductive health. This course will expose students to the issues affecting the reproductive and sexual health of women in conflict and post-conflict situations. The context of recent conflicts and their effects on women?s health will be analyzed. Other topics will include: common reproductive health morbidities in conflict situations, reproductive health assessments, programming, monitoring and evaluations, gender-based violence, and rape as a weapon of war. Specific examples will be drawn from the wars that occurred in former Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Southern Sudan, and the ongoing war in Darfur, Western Sudan. This course complements the Managing Disasters and Complex Humanitarian Emergencies course (IH870). Participants in that course are highly encouraged to enroll in this course. -
SPH IH 770: Poverty, Health, and Development
Poverty, Health and Development is the core International Public Health course for master?s students in the new University-wide Global Development Policy Program. The course also serves as an elective course for students in public health. The goal of this course is for students to explore the relationships between poverty, health, and development in low-income countries. While not a methods course per se, methods in public health, economics, statistics, and quantitative impact evaluation will be introduced and used throughout the course. -
SPH IH 773: Financial Management for International Health
Health care managers must be prepared to talk about financial issues, analyze and interpret data, and make decisions using financial information. This course develops competencies in cost analysis, pricing, budgeting, and reading financial reports in international health settings where financial systems are weak and data not easily available. In addition to using principles of differential and full cost analysis, students gain skills in breakeven analysis and calculating mark-ups. Examples are drawn from hospitals, clinics, and revolving drug funds from developing countries. Students who took IH 763 cannot take IH 773 for degree credit. -
SPH IH 777: International Health Culminating Experience Seminar
This seminar course has two main purposes: first, to enable participants to respond to one another's work, examine issues in the writing process, make improvements from draft to draft, and complete a well-researched, well-argued concentration paper; second, to explore issues in international health that are the focus of their research and emerge with a greater understanding of the questions they raise for policy and practice. Papers go through three drafts, and students will have the opportunity to give and receive feedback in peer review sessions. Background readings and regular participation in class critiques and discussions are required. Students must be working on their culminating experience to be enrolled in the class. -
SPH IH 792: Capacity, Cost & Need: Balancing the Equation  A Quantitative Exercise in Health Systems Planning and Analysis
Strong health systems are essential to achieve global health goals. Using health systems planning models, decision makers can evaluate the impact of policy alternatives for medical care service access and delivery, balancing limited financial, human, infrastructure, and material resources. In this course, students work in teams to gain skills in health systems planning through building and manipulating a complex planning model for the fictional country of Lapalia. Topics include measuring and estimating performance measures for capacity, utilization, and productivity; manipulating cost data; scenario analysis; and interpreting data for decisions. The course requires basic knowledge of Excel. -
SPH IH 795: Global AIDS Epidemic: Social & Economic Determinants, Impact, & Responses
AIDS is one of the most important pandemics and human development challenges of our time. This course explores the determinants and impacts of the AIDS pandemic and examines best practices in prevention, care and treatment and impact mitigation. Students will explore the relationship between human rights, gender and vulnerability to HIV; examine effective multi-sectoral responses; and evaluate the benefits and limitations of major multi- and bi-lateral AIDS initiatives. Students will also examine the major debates in the AIDS field and explore different, at times contradictory, perspectives. -
SPH IH 800: Clinical development of a new medicinal: A case study about licensing a new vaccine for the developing world
Vaccines are arguably our most potent public health tools. The clinical development of a new vaccine is a massive undertaking, spanning many years, and typically costing hundreds of millions of dollars -- yet the process by which new vaccines are developed, tested, licensed, and used is poorly understood. In this course, students will participate in an extended simulation of the clinical development of a new vaccine. Students will design a Phase I through Phase III clinical development program; at each step, decisions the students take will influence future events, making the course highly iterative and flexible. The course is taught by an infectious disease specialist who recently led a clinical development team at Novartis Vaccines that led to licensure of a new meningococcal vaccine in over 33 countries. This course requires a substantial amount of time working in groups outside of the scheduled class time. -
SPH IH 803: Antimicrobial Resistance: Facing a Future without Effective Medicines?
The global emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), coupled with a weak ?pipeline? of new antimicrobials means there is a frightening possibility that we and our children will live in a world without effective antimicrobial agents. This course introduces students to the ecology, epidemiology,and health policy aspects of resistance to antimicrobial agents against important bacterial and viral infectious agents, providing a framework for considering the important local, national and international scientific and policy questions. Students will critically analyze appropriate research and programmatic approaches that could be effective in addressing this major public health problem. Specific topics include the basic physiology/ecology and evolutionary biology of AMR; mechanisms of resistance in agents of diseases such as TB, HIV, malaria; epidemiology/behavioral and environmental factors promoting and ameliorating resistance and the ecology of resistance/antimicrobials in the food chain. Students will also explore the clinical and economics impacts of AMR and local, national and international health policies for surveillance, prevention and control.
