Title:	Health and Human Rights
Keywords:	Values / Human rights / (bio)Ethics Health legislation Health Policy
Country:	Germany
Institution:	Germany - Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, University of Heidelberg
Course coordinator:	Huzeifa Bodal Dr. Florian Neuhann
Date start:	2018-06-04
Date end:	2018-06-08
About duration and dates:	2 weeks
Classification:	advanced optional
Mode of delivery:	Face to face
Course location: Heidelberg, Germany
ECTS credit points:	3 ECTS credits
SIT: 90 hours 36 hours lectures, 24 hours group work and presentations and 30 hours self-directed including 6 hours assessment
Language:	English
Description: To enable health professionals and programme managers understand the concepts and principles of human rights within the health sector and to improve their skills in applying and evaluating these rights. By the end of the course participants should be able to: • Articulate the key principles that underpin human rights discussions within the health sector. • Assess the implications for health within UN conventions, treaties and international declarations related to human rights. • Articulate and explain human rights principles in relation to the main topics within the health sector: o Equity and Equality: urban/rural bias, the poor, marginalized groups, gender, minorities, disabled, elderly o Access: harm reduction services, reproductive health services, HIV/AIDS services, access to health for refugees/IDPs in armed conflicts o Accountability: development of more responsive public health policies, monitoring progress, unintended impacts of laws • Elaborate the importance of applying a rights based approach to health • Discuss the implications on human rights resulting from national health laws or policies (for example, the human rights implication of China’s ‘one-child’ policy or the USA´s ‘Obamacare’ policy). • Articulate the key mechanisms at national, regional and international mechanisms designed to protect and promote human rights within the health sector. • Elaborate strategies to monitor the application of human rights principles in the health sector.
Assessment Procedures: Class attendance (80%) is mandatory. Participants are expected to participate in group work and discussions. Final assessment will be based on one writing sample produced by each participant. Each participant is expected to produce a short writing sample not exceeding 950 words (i.e. approximately 2-3 pages). The writing task will be introduced during the first week of the course and will be submitted on the last day of the course. The participant can choose between two writing options: - Policy brief for audiences such as decision-makers in the ministry of health, members of health committees in parliament, etc. - An essay arguing the advantages and disadvantages of a health policy or a public health law. If a student fails the written submission, he or she may request the course coordinator to submit a new writing sample. In this instance, the participant will select a new writing topic. If the student fails a second time, the average grade from the two attempts will be final.
Content: - This course starts by introducing the theoretical framework and general concepts and principles of human rights, their relationship to, and impact within the health sector. - The course focuses on health policies at the international and national levels. It addresses human rights issues at the community as well as the individual level. It seeks to define the roles of state and non-state actors in terms of rights-holders (typically non-state actors) and duty-bearers (typically the state). - It has a practical approach, using country case studies or particular thematic fields to offer participants the opportunity to conceptualize integrating a human rights based approach into international health policies, strategies, programming, implementation as well as monitoring and evaluation.
Methods: - The course utilizes the collective experiences of lecturers and participants to examine the vital role of human rights in the health sector. By combining the experiences of the lecturers and the participants, a richer adult-learning experience is created. - The course lecturers bring forth a diverse academic and organisational background such a Medicine, Law, Ethics, Administration working in international organisations such as WHO, GIZ, INGO’s, Universities or as independent experts in the international field. They present and share their knowledge and experience in the field of human rights in health. - A combination of lectures, group work, self/group study, case studies, group presentations, films and discussions in plenary. Students are encouraged to participate actively in the learning process.
Prerequisites: English Toefl: Computer based >237; Paper based >580; Internet based >90; IELTS > 6.5. (Or as requested at respective English taught home institute = tropEd enrolment sufficient); Public health professionals (e.g. health managers, health planners, health systems researchers, epidemiologists, etc.), medical professionals (e.g. doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, etc.) and students pursuing a public health degree.
Attendance: The number of participants including tropEd students is limited to 22
Selection: first come, first serve
Fees: 1000,- EUR for tropEd students, 1.500 EUR for others
Scholarships: None available at the moment
Major changes since initial accreditation: Course is now jointly coordinated by two people: Huzeifa Bodal (co-coordinator since 2005): GIZ Dr. Florian Neuhann (co-coordinator as of 2013): University of Heidelberg
Student evaluation: Positive - Practical approaches show what it looks like when HRs are implemented - Good balance between theory and practice, lively discussions Negative - Enhancement on overall course coherence or “the red thread” is needed due to the broad thematic spectrum of lectures. - Not much is covered on the important role of civil society and other actors involved
Lessons learned: - Course coordinators have revised the curriculum development tool and pay close attention to the submitted lecture plans of each speaker to ensure overall course coherence and reduction of overlap. - Since 2010, the UN partners have been reduced to WHO only and civil society partners have been increased – new partnerships have been developed with OXFAM Germany, Transparency International and the Christoffel-Blindenmission (CBM), German Institute for Human Rights.
tropEd accreditation: Accredited in Bordeaux 2002. Re-accredited in Barcelona, May 2007 and in shanghai, May 2013. This accreditation is valid until May 2018.
Remarks: Division of labour and roles of coordinators: The differences in professional and organizational backgrounds as well as experience in international development cooperation are regarded as added value to the course. Specifically, the duties will be split as follows: - Identification of lecturers - Individual session development - Course marketing based on each coordinator's network of contacts - On-site course facilitation
Email Address:	grys@uni-heidelberg.de
Date Of Record Creation:	2012-01-10 02:49:57 (W3C-DTF)
Date Of Record Release:	2017-05-22 13:00:09 (W3C-DTF)
Date Record Checked:	2017-05-22 (W3C-DTF)
Date Last Modified:	2021-11-21 19:09:07 (W3C-DTF)