Graduate Prerequisites: MPH integrated core courses or SPH doctoral students. - Understanding how health policy is shaped—and how it can be changed—is essential for every future public health leader. This course immerses students in the real-world politics behind policy design, agenda setting, and implementation across diverse country contexts. Why do some urgent health issues rise to the top while others are ignored? How do power, interests, and global institutions influence policy making? And what strategies can public health professionals use to push meaningful change? In this hands-on seminar, students learn practical tools from political science and policy analysis to diagnose policy problems, map key actors, assess competing policy options, and navigate the complex politics of implementation and evaluation. Through case studies, interactive discussions, guest speakers, and a multi-part policy analysis project, students develop the skills to design politically feasible solutions to pressing global health challenges, manage stakeholders, and develop effective implementation strategies. By the end of the course, students will be equipped not only to understand global health policy—but to influence it.

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