Globalization has linked the world’s health more closely than before. International public health focuses on the growing health challenges that transcend national boundaries. The focus of this course is public health seen from a European perspective.
The first part of the course will introduce selected European health system structures and functions. Key conceptual frameworks needed to evaluate a health system will be discussed; these will include political analysis and strategies, performance assessment, allocation of resources and ethical theory applied to health sector.
The second part of the course will focus on the analysis major global health themes and policies, including right to health, and international health issues, such as HIV/AIDS, the burden of cancer, chronic disease, and mental health.
One class session is devoted to Jamaica as an example of public health policies and practice care in a developing country, to prepare students for their extended field study.
Learning outcomes:
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
Understand Health promotion and protection within Europe
Examine European public health approaches to address health issues that go beyond national boundaries
Explore major European public health policies and cross-border health care
Explain the factors that determine the quality, delivery, and costs of health services for individuals, communities and populations in a comparative, global context
Evaluate methods of financing, provider payment regulation, historical, and social-cultural elements affecting the accessibility, quality, organization, performance, and outcomes of the health care system in an international comparative context
Use relevant health database for Europe
Discuss health care trends Europe
Understand research designs and quantitative methods applied to Public Health
Method of presentation:
Group discussions, lectures, other media such as film and documentaries, and experienced guest speakers in the 30 contact hours (2.5 per week).
Required work and form of assessment:
In this course, you will be required to: 1) participate fully in discussions and prepare for the class; 2) complete a mid-term assessment project/exam; 3) submit a final paper, and 4) make an oral presentation.
Class Participation (20% of Grade)
Students are expected to attend each class having read the required material in preparation for class discussion, and participate actively in discussions that arise in class (poor attendance and lack of punctuality will reduce the final grade).
Mid-term assessment exam (20% of grade)
The mid-term exam will be a research paper (around 1200 words).
Research Paper (40% of Grade) will consist of an ‘Individual Country Health System and Policy Assessment Project. The project will be a 2500 words paper (plus end notes). The research paper will require you to analyze the Public health system for one country chosen by you. Any country can be chosen but no more than two students may choose a particular country, and all assignments must be completed independently. Your country project should include the following segments:
Demographic Information and present political situation.
Current Health system and brief history of health policy development.
Discussion of the components of the system, financing, resources, delivery, quality and access to healthcare issues, etc.
Comparison of the Health Policy of the chosen country with others countries in Europe.
Top challenges and priorities of the chosen country and suggestions of a relevant public health proposal i.e. development of a public health campaign.
Completing the assignment requires searching for data on the Internet, including WHO and/or embassy websites, exploring current scientific literature, and incorporating concepts discussed in the lectures. The IES Abroad Academic Integrity Code is in effect for this course, as with all other IES Abroad London courses. The code prohibits academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, which is defined in part as copying or paraphrasing passages from books, periodicals, the Internet, or other sources without appropriate citations. Your instructor can provide instructions on correct citation of sources if you are uncertain.
Oral presentation of Research Project (20% of Grade). Presentations will be made in week 12
content:
Week 1: Introduction to Public Health
Course Overview and Requirements. What is Public Health? Introduction to the Principles of Public Health. A day in the Life of Public Health: how public health affects everyday life. Group discussion: IES smoking policy.
Research methods: Quantitative methods for Policy and Demographic Research – Biostatistics and Epidemiology within the Paradigm of Public Health; Epidemiologic Investigation.
Introduction to international health, international health organizations. The raise of public-private partnerships (PPP) in health and their controversies. Human rights and health, including women’s sexual and reproductive rights, mental health, older persons, persons living with HIV/AIDS, etc.
The duration of the course is up to 4 hours. Students should take Modules 1 and 2 of the E-learning course. Please use the course map for a description of the different sections. Module 1 is entitled “Relationships Between Health and Human Rights in the Context of PAHO and WHO Strategies.” The second module is entitled “The Right to Health and Other Related Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.” Module 3, “The Human Rights Based Approach as a Transformative Strategy of Health Systems,” is strongly recommended.
Week 3: Introduction to Health Systems.
Introduction to Health Systems: Key elements, functions and goals of Health Care Systems; Configuration of International Health Systems. What resources are available to get data and information?
Readings:
The World Health Report 2000. Ch 2-4
Johnson J, and Stoskopf C, 2010, Ch 1 (Introduction to Health Systems)
Statistical Annex – WHO World Health Report 2000 – Ch 1
World Bank, Health Financing Revisited. Ch 1
Week 4: Evaluating Health Systems
Evaluating Health Systems: Where do you start?
How to assess health system performance. Choosing performance goals: Health status, Satisfaction, Risk protection, Cost issues. Assessing performance: Efficiency, Access, Quality, and Equity. Health Inequalities and Social Determinants of Health. Judging Performance: Ethical theory in health system analysis.
Readings:
The World Health Report 2000. Ch 5
Lassey, Lassey and Jinks, 1997. Ch 17
Roberts & Reich, 2002.
Reinhardt, 2001
Marmot, 2005.
Lewis, 2007
Week 5: Health Systems in Europe
Health systems in Europe. The United Kingdom system: the National Health System (NHS). Organisation, financing, and main policy trends. The British health system and public health.
Readings:
Johnson J, and Stoskopf C, 2010, Ch 5 (United Kingdom).
The statutory health systems: The case of Germany and France. Approaches and main characteristics. The German and French Health systems and public health.
Readings:
Johnson J, and Stoskopf C, 2010. Ch. 8 (Germany)
Cody, 2009
Thomson, Sarah, et.al, 2012 (sections on France & Germany)
Eurohealth, 2006 (special issue on France).
MIDTERM ASSESSMENT/EXAM
Week 7: Health promotion & Protection
Health promotion. Concepts and main international developments. European priorities in Health Promotion. Focus on cancer. Strategies: Prevention & detection. National screening programs. Living with cancer.
Infectious diseases: Focus on HIV/AIDS. Epidemiology in Europe; Psychological and Social Aspects of Living with HIV; Primary HIV Prevention: theory and practice; Prevention Strategies:
Individual & Small Group Level Interventions, Community-Level & Structural Interventions.
Focus on Aging and long term care, and Mental Health.
Ageing, long term care and Palliative Care: Balancing fair protection, and financial sustainability, Mapping long-term care services across Europe, Impact of chronic disease on need for long-term care.
Mental Health: epidemiology of mental illness; Labeling and Stigma, Social Distribution of Mental Health and Illness, Mental Health and Palliative Care Policies across Europe.
Garfield, R. L., J. R. Lave, and J. M. Donohue. 2010. “Health reform and the scope of benefits for mental health and substance use disorder services.” Psychiatric Services 61:1081-1086.
Week 10: Case study
Health Systems in Jamaica: medical practices and policy; community health care and comparative systems in the UK and Jamaica. Public-private partnerships, meeting local and regional health care needs; the role of traditional medicine in immigrant communities.
Guest Speaker: TBC Speaker
Week 11: Theoretical constructs
Addressing the students’ questions and applying theoretical constructs. Group discussion: Primary Health Care (PHC), from Alma Ata Declaration to current times and future challenges.
European perspectives on PHC. A special focus on the Caribbean (in preparation for the the trip to Jamaica).
Readings:
Masseria, C. et.al. 2009.
Mullings, J. and Tomlin, P. 2007
Cueto, M., 2004.
Week12: Final Presentations
Final Projects presentations– ‘Individual Country Health System and Policy Assessment Project’. Presentation should be made in class.
Required readings:
NOTE: The course materials will be available electronically on Moodle, and will contain hand-out summaries, and chapter sections from a variety of sources, including either copies of, or references to, journal papers.
Alexe, D. et.al. 2008. Cancer control in Europe today: challenges and policy options. Eurohealth, 14 (3): 12-15.
Anttilaa, A. et.al. Cervical cancer screening policies and coverage in Europe. 2009 European Journal of Cancer, 45: 2649–2658.
Birn, A.E., Pillay, Y., and Holtz, T., Textbook of International Health. Global Health in a Dynamic World. Third Edition. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
Bogart, Catz, Kelly, Gray-Bernhardt, Hartmann, Otto-Salaj, Hackl & Bloom (2000). Psychosocial issues in the era of new AIDS treatments from the perspective of persons living with HIV. Journal of Health Psychology, 5 (4), 500-516.
Cody E, 2009. For French, U.S. Health Debate Hard to Imagine, The Washington Post, Sept. 23.
Conrad P, 2010. Deviance and Medicalization: From Badness to Sickness. Temple University Press. Cueto, M. 2004. The origins of Primary Health Care and selective Primary Health Care. The American Journal of Public Health, 94 (11): 1864-1874.
Costello EJ, Compton SN, Keeler G, and Angold A. 2003. "Relationship between poverty and psychopathology: A natural experiment." JAMA, 290:2023-2029.
French health system reform: Implementation and future challenges. Eurohealth, 2006, 12 (3).
Garfield RL, Lave JR, Donohue JM. 2010. “Health reform and the scope of benefits for mental health and substance use disorder services.” Psychiatric Services 61:1081-1086.
Gordis L., 2004. Epidemiology. Third edition. Philadelphia: Elsevier Saunders. (The second edition is also acceptable.)
Johnson J, and Stoskopf C, 2010. Comparative Health Systems, Global Perspectives.Masseria, C. et.al. 2009. Primary care in Europe. Policy Brief. The London School of Economics and Political Science. Available at: ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=4739&langId=en
Mullings, J. and Tomlin, P. 2007. Health sector challenges and responses beyond the Alma-Ata Declaration: A Caribbean perspective. Rev Panam Salud Publica/Pan Am J Public Health 21(2/3): 155-63.
Kabir, Zubair , Bennett, Kathleen, Shelley, Emer et. al. 2007.Comparing primary prevention with secondary prevention to explain decreasing Coronary Heart Disease death rates in Ireland, 1985–2000. BMC Public Health, 7:117.
Kickbusch, Ilona. Identifying critical societal Public Health needs: In search of the public health paradigm for the 21st century. 2008 (available on-line)
Iwelunmor, Zungu, & Airhihenbuwa, 2010. Rethinking HIV/AIDS disclosure among women within the context of motherhood in South Africa. American Journal of Public Health, 100 (8), 1393-1399.
Lassey, Lassey and Jinks, 1997. Health Care Systems Around the World, Characteristics, Issues, Reforms.
Lewis, S. 2007. "Toward a General Theory of Indifference to Research‐Based Evidence." Journal of Health Services Research & Policy 12 166-172.Marmot, M. Social determinants of health inequalities. 2005. The Lancet, 365: 1099–1104.
Mechanic D. Mental Health and Social Policy: Beyond Managed Care, 5th edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2008.
Noar SM, and Zimmerman RS (2005). Health behavior theory and cumulative knowledge regarding health behaviors: are we moving in the right direction. Health Education Research, 20: 275-290.
Pagano M, and Gauvreau K. (2000). Principles of Biostatistics. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Reinhardt UE, 2001. "Can Efficiency in Health Care Be Left to the Market?" Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law 265: 967.
Roberts MJ, Hsiao W, et al. 2004. Getting Health Reform Right: A Guide to Improving Performance and Equity. New York, Oxford University Press.
Roberts MJ, and Reich M, 2002. "Ethical analysis in public health." Lancet 3599311: 1055.
Schneider MJ. Introduction to Public Health, 2nd Edition. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2006.Smith, B; Tang, K; Nutbeam, D. 2006. WHO Health Promotion Glossary: new terms. Health Promotion International, 21 (4):340-354.
Spitzer, R. L. 2005. “Rosenhan revisited: the scientific credibility of Lauren Slater's pseudopatient diagnosis study.” The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 193(11):734 73-9.
Trickett EJ., Beehler S., Deutsch C. et al., 2011. Advancing the science of community-level interventions. American Journal of Public Health, 101(8),1410-1419.
Dr. Yolanda Eraso holds a Ph.D. and a M.A. in the History of Medicine from Oxford Brookes University. She has been Wellcome Trust Research Fellow (2007-2010) with a project investigating female cancer from a transnational perspective. She is completing a monograph on this topic examining the medical exchanges between South-America, Europe and the US that lay the foundations for key developments in cancer diagnosis, treatment, and control. She has published numerous articles and edited volumes on a range of topics, which includes women’s health, welfare, cancer, and mental health policies from national and international health contexts. Her forthcoming book on maternity in Argentina is published by Rodopi: Clio Medica Series. Since 2009 she has developed Postgraduate courses and currently teaches on the MSc in Cancer Studies and the MSc in Palliative Care: Global Perspectives at the Department of Clinical Health Care (Oxford Brookes University).
Public Health In Europe: Issues And Social Policies
Globalization has linked the world’s health more closely than before. International public health focuses on the growing health challenges that transcend national boundaries. The focus of this course is public health seen from a European perspective.
The first part of the course will introduce selected European health system structures and functions. Key conceptual frameworks needed to evaluate a health system will be discussed; these will include political analysis and strategies, performance assessment, allocation of resources and ethical theory applied to health sector.
The second part of the course will focus on the analysis major global health themes and policies, including right to health, and international health issues, such as HIV/AIDS, the burden of cancer, chronic disease, and mental health.
One class session is devoted to Jamaica as an example of public health policies and practice care in a developing country, to prepare students for their extended field study.
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
Group discussions, lectures, other media such as film and documentaries, and experienced guest speakers in the 30 contact hours (2.5 per week).
In this course, you will be required to: 1) participate fully in discussions and prepare for the class; 2) complete a mid-term assessment project/exam; 3) submit a final paper, and 4) make an oral presentation.
Students are expected to attend each class having read the required material in preparation for class discussion, and participate actively in discussions that arise in class (poor attendance and lack of punctuality will reduce the final grade).
The mid-term exam will be a research paper (around 1200 words).
Completing the assignment requires searching for data on the Internet, including WHO and/or embassy websites, exploring current scientific literature, and incorporating concepts discussed in the lectures. The IES Abroad Academic Integrity Code is in effect for this course, as with all other IES Abroad London courses. The code prohibits academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, which is defined in part as copying or paraphrasing passages from books, periodicals, the Internet, or other sources without appropriate citations. Your instructor can provide instructions on correct citation of sources if you are uncertain.
Week 1: Introduction to Public Health
Course Overview and Requirements. What is Public Health? Introduction to the Principles of Public Health. A day in the Life of Public Health: how public health affects everyday life. Group discussion: IES smoking policy.
Research methods: Quantitative methods for Policy and Demographic Research – Biostatistics and Epidemiology within the Paradigm of Public Health; Epidemiologic Investigation.
Readings:
Week 2: International Health
Introduction to international health, international health organizations. The raise of public-private partnerships (PPP) in health and their controversies. Human rights and health, including women’s sexual and reproductive rights, mental health, older persons, persons living with HIV/AIDS, etc.
Readings:
Please take the E-learning course on human rights and health availability found on the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Website. Available at: http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1774&It...
The duration of the course is up to 4 hours. Students should take Modules 1 and 2 of the E-learning course. Please use the course map for a description of the different sections. Module 1 is entitled “Relationships Between Health and Human Rights in the Context of PAHO and WHO Strategies.” The second module is entitled “The Right to Health and Other Related Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.” Module 3, “The Human Rights Based Approach as a Transformative Strategy of Health Systems,” is strongly recommended.
Week 3: Introduction to Health Systems.
Introduction to Health Systems: Key elements, functions and goals of Health Care Systems; Configuration of International Health Systems. What resources are available to get data and information?
Readings:
Week 4: Evaluating Health Systems
Evaluating Health Systems: Where do you start?
How to assess health system performance. Choosing performance goals: Health status, Satisfaction, Risk protection, Cost issues. Assessing performance: Efficiency, Access, Quality, and Equity. Health Inequalities and Social Determinants of Health. Judging Performance: Ethical theory in health system analysis.
Readings:
Week 5: Health Systems in Europe
Health systems in Europe. The United Kingdom system: the National Health System (NHS). Organisation, financing, and main policy trends. The British health system and public health.
Readings:
Week 6: Health Systems in Europe
The statutory health systems: The case of Germany and France. Approaches and main characteristics. The German and French Health systems and public health.
Readings:
MIDTERM ASSESSMENT/EXAM
Week 7: Health promotion & Protection
Health promotion. Concepts and main international developments. European priorities in Health Promotion. Focus on cancer. Strategies: Prevention & detection. National screening programs. Living with cancer.
Readings
Week 8: Health promotion & Protection
Infectious diseases: Focus on HIV/AIDS. Epidemiology in Europe; Psychological and Social Aspects of Living with HIV; Primary HIV Prevention: theory and practice; Prevention Strategies:
Individual & Small Group Level Interventions, Community-Level & Structural Interventions.
Readings:
Week 9: Health promotion & Protection
Focus on Aging and long term care, and Mental Health.
Ageing, long term care and Palliative Care: Balancing fair protection, and financial sustainability, Mapping long-term care services across Europe, Impact of chronic disease on need for long-term care.
Mental Health: epidemiology of mental illness; Labeling and Stigma, Social Distribution of Mental Health and Illness, Mental Health and Palliative Care Policies across Europe.
Readings:
Week 10: Case study
Health Systems in Jamaica: medical practices and policy; community health care and comparative systems in the UK and Jamaica. Public-private partnerships, meeting local and regional health care needs; the role of traditional medicine in immigrant communities.
Guest Speaker: TBC Speaker
Week 11: Theoretical constructs
Addressing the students’ questions and applying theoretical constructs. Group discussion: Primary Health Care (PHC), from Alma Ata Declaration to current times and future challenges.
European perspectives on PHC. A special focus on the Caribbean (in preparation for the the trip to Jamaica).
Readings:
Week12: Final Presentations
Final Projects presentations– ‘Individual Country Health System and Policy Assessment Project’. Presentation should be made in class.
NOTE: The course materials will be available electronically on Moodle, and will contain hand-out summaries, and chapter sections from a variety of sources, including either copies of, or references to, journal papers.
Dr. Yolanda Eraso holds a Ph.D. and a M.A. in the History of Medicine from Oxford Brookes University. She has been Wellcome Trust Research Fellow (2007-2010) with a project investigating female cancer from a transnational perspective. She is completing a monograph on this topic examining the medical exchanges between South-America, Europe and the US that lay the foundations for key developments in cancer diagnosis, treatment, and control. She has published numerous articles and edited volumes on a range of topics, which includes women’s health, welfare, cancer, and mental health policies from national and international health contexts. Her forthcoming book on maternity in Argentina is published by Rodopi: Clio Medica Series. Since 2009 she has developed Postgraduate courses and currently teaches on the MSc in Cancer Studies and the MSc in Palliative Care: Global Perspectives at the Department of Clinical Health Care (Oxford Brookes University).