Dr Philipa Mladovsky CON.6.13

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Health and International Development. This course is available on the MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Columbia), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Hertie), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and NUS), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Sciences Po), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Tokyo), MPA in International Development, MPA in Public Policy and Management, MPA in Public and Economic Policy, MPA in Public and Social Policy, MPA in Social Impact, MSc in African Development, MSc in Development Management, MSc in Development Studies, MSc in Global Health Policy, MSc in Global Politics, MSc in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies, MSc in Urban Policy (LSE and Sciences Po), MSc in Urbanisation and Development and Master of Public Administration. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

The course is concerned with inter-relationships between challenges to human health and health systems in the developing world and their socio-economic, cultural, historic and political context. Both the causes of health threats and their consequences are examined. The approach of the course is to discuss specific (re-) emerging health threats, and to critically assess their determinants and impacts, and policies and interventions to address their spread. A wide range of topics is covered, including: the relationship between health, population and development; the demographic and epidemiological transitions; biological, behavioural, socio-economic, cultural and environmental influences on health outcomes; legacies of colonialism in global health; the causes and consequences of the HIV/AIDS pandemic; Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs); non-communicable diseases; mental health; and, local and international health intervention efforts and policies, with a focus on health systems and universal health coverage. Case studies are drawn mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia. By the end of the course, students should be able to: understand the complex relationships between health and poverty / inequality in and across low and middle-income countries; evaluate multi-disciplinary evidence on a range of global health issues and interventions and apply this evidence to policy analysis and development; and understand how politics, power and moral frameworks influence global health policy, with a focus on governments, NGOs and bilateral and multilateral donors.

15 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the LT. 1 hour and 30 minutes of lectures in the ST.

Lectures include a ninety minute revision session in the ST.

There will be a reading week in Week 6.

Students are expected to prepare at least one class presentation and submit one essay.

A detailed weekly reading list will be provided at the first lecture. The readings for this course are from journals and select book chapters in the fields of international development, public health and epidemiology, health systems, public policy, demography, sociology, philosophy, and anthropology, political science and economics among others. Readings will also include case studies of disease prevention and control efforts in various countries and reports, papers and articles published by international organisations, think-tanks, and a variety of other sources.

Key text books for this course include:

Farmer, P., Kim, J.Y., Kleinman, A. and Basilico, M., 2013. Reimagining global health: an introduction. Univ of California Press.

Biehl, J. and Petryna, A. eds., 2013. When people come first: critical studies in global health. Princeton University Press.

Merson, M., Black, R.E. and Mills, A. eds., 2012. Global health: diseases, programs, systems and policies. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours) in the summer exam period.