Title:	Globalization and health
Keywords:	trade Primary Health Care Health systems Globalization Climate
Country:	Norway
Institution:	Norway - Centre for International Health, Universitetet i Bergen
Course coordinator:	Joern Blume Bjarne Robberstad
Date start:	2014-04-22
Date end:	2014-05-16
About duration and dates:	4 weeks
Classification:	advanced optional
Mode of delivery:	Face to face
Course location: Centre for International Health, University of Bergen, Norway
ECTS credit points:	5 ECTS credits
SIT: 150 hours Contact time = 45 hours, Directed study (group work) = 60 hours, Self-directed learning (individual) = 20 hours Essay assignment = 25 hours
Language:	English
Description: The module is designed to help students explore the complex dynamics that make up contemporary globalisation. The focus is on global factors that contribute to inequalities and inequities in health and actions that can be taken to address their adverse health effects. By the end of this module students should be able to: - Appraise existing evidence of links between globalisation and health; - Demonstrate how global governance processes outside the health sector, such as those relating to migration, increasingly affect health; - Explain the relationship between health/health care and key aspects of global food and pharmaceutical trade; - Evaluate existing evidence of the links between climate and human health; - Discuss the relationship between global health policies and financing reforms and how access to good quality services can be promoted; - Identify and reflect on interventions to address the adverse effects of globalisation, with the aim of promoting equity and positively impact on health outcomes for all.
Assessment Procedures: The assessment is a two stage process. It first takes the form of active course participation, oral presentations and group presentations, which cover all the learning objectives of the module. These activities focus on developing critical and analytical skills relating to the questions being discussed, and are graded with Pass/Fail. "Fail" at this stage requires students to re-register for the course to receive a grade. "Pass" on all the above serves to qualify for the second stage, which is a written mandatory assignment (essay) on one key topic. The assignment is subjected to grading (A-F) which will appear on the course certificate. The essay of 2000-2500 words + references should demonstrate the candidate’s conceptual understanding and ability to relate the contents of the module to empirical cases. Students who receive an F on the written assignment are allowed to re-sit their examination, i.e. to submit a new essay, according to standard procedures at the University of Bergen.
Content: The processes of globalisation and the pathways through which they impact on health and health care are multiple, complex and dynamic. For example, trade liberalisation and deregulation impact on access to food and pharmaceuticals. Global economic growth has consequences for the natural environment, impacts on climate and affects human populations and habits. Global institutions as well as national states shape global health priorities and policies. Their organisation influences on for example financing of health care, the availability of human resources for health, and subsequently how well health systems are able to meet public health needs. Public health interventions may be designed to address aspects of globalisation to improve population health and to reduce inequities in health and health care between and within countries. The following five key aspects (with 14 sub-sessions) will be studied in-depth: (1) Public health and the links to globalisation: 1. Snapshots of health Around the World 2. Health and Human Development 3. The Social Determinants of Health 4. The Social Determinants of Health and Globalisation (2) Globalisation and its impact on health: 1. How has contemporary globalisation evolved? 2. How does the global food trade affect the health of communities? 3. How does the global pharmaceutical trade affect the health of communities? (3) Global environmental changes and health: 4. Climate change, globalisation and human habitats 5. What health concerns arise as a result of climate change? (4) Health systems and globalisation: 1. Health care systems as a social determinant of health 2. Policy makers and policy making at the global level 3. The global funding architecture (5) What can be done?: 1. Interventions to address the social determinants of (ill)health 2. Case studies of actions to improve global public health
Methods: The teaching is based on residential teaching at University of Bergen, while the mandatory course materials including a module guide, reader and resource DVD are designed for self-study or flexible learning. The Module Guide contains content, as well as learning activities and tasks, including reading, reflection, observation, research, application and practice. There is a Module Reader and a DVD that accompanies this Guide. The DVD contains relevant supplementary readings, interviews, documentaries and video clips. The nature of flexible learning is that it allows the student to explore the material to whatever depth she/he prefers and to skip parts with which she/he is already familiar. The course consists of a mixture of lectures and group work/discussions on the main topics described above. Each day will include a critical review of key papers on global health (approximately three hours reading per seminar). The module reader contains relevant literature, approximately 15-25 pages per seminar session. Students are required to participate in group work on assigned topics. This includes daily student active teaching exercises, with alternating group compositions, and one longitudinal assignment, which will be concluded with an oral presentation of 45 minutes pr. group. The last week will be reserved for individual studies and writing of an essay on a topic of the students’ choice in the field of globalisation and health.
Prerequisites: Good working knowledge of English (TOEFL score of at least 550 points paper-based or 213 points computer-based, or an equivalent approved test). Students admitted to a Master’s Degree Programme may join this course (e.g. tropEd Network).
Attendance: Maximum number of students: 30
Selection: Priority: Master students enrolled at the University of Bergen Students in the Erasmus Mundus program MSc in Int Health Other tropEd students
Fees: tropEd students outside the University of Bergen: €70 to cover administrative cost.
Scholarships: None
Major changes since initial accreditation: Change in course coordinator: Bjarne Robberstad and Joern Blume. Content and learning outcomes: The contents and learning outcomes have been aligned with the distance learning materials "Globalisation and Health", that were developed in co-operation between University of Bergen, the University of Western Cape (South Africa) and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (Tanzania). These materials are partly based on the contents of the previous version of the Globalisation and Health Module given at the University of Bergen. While the University of Western Cape deliver the module solely as distance learning, University of Bergen will for the time being continue to offer it as a residential module, while also considering to offer it as a parallel distance learning track. Two topics have been removed since the last accreditation. "Ecologic economics", because it is not part of the jointly developed learning materials, and "War, violent conflicts and health", because this topic has now been further developed and is now offered as a separate module at University of Bergen.
Student evaluation: The overall student evaluation has been very good, but as a response to detailed feedback we have re-vitalised the mandatory student active teaching components so that it stimulates more active involvement from all students using multiple approaches and techniques. Half way in the 2013 Globalisation and Health module, the feedback from students to these changes are very good.
Lessons learned: In it’s previous version, this module was based on a large number of guest lecturers who all brought relatively large amounts of literature from a wide variety of sources. While student appreciated receiving lectures from many different capacities on the various fields, this led to the aggregate workload being too high and the curricula perhaps too fragmented. With the recently developed learning materials (together with Universities of Western Cape and Muhimbili) we now offer a module that is further improved in terms of consistency and completeness, and which makes the knowledge more available to students.
tropEd accreditation: Accredited in Copenhagen September 2008. Re-accredited in October 2013. This accreditation is valid until October 2018.
Remarks: Course coordinating committee: Bjarne Robberstad and Joern Blume, Centre for International Health, Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen To Application Form
Email Address:	Linda.Forshaw@uib.no
Date Of Record Creation:	2012-01-13 01:28:58 (W3C-DTF)
Date Of Record Release:	2012-01-13 07:44:58 (W3C-DTF)
Date Record Checked:	2013-10-29 (W3C-DTF)
Date Last Modified:	2021-11-20 21:55:58 (W3C-DTF)