Undergraduate Course: Global Health Policy (SCPL08016)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Global Health Policy examines the politics and practices of global health. The course introduces students to the key interdisciplinary concepts used to understand global health policy. Exploring a variety of case study examples drawn from across the world, the course then examines global health policy and governance structures, health systems, and issues of inequality and justice in global health. Through perspectives drawn from the social and political sciences, this course provides students with the skills to analyse current and emergent global health policy challenges. |
| Course description |
This course examines the current perspectives, practices, and structures of global health policy, though interdisciplinary perspectives drawn from critical public health and the social and political sciences. The focus of this course is on helping students understand and engage with the multiple lenses through which issues of global health policy and practice can be studied and practiced. Through this, students will gain an appreciation of the interplay of actors, ideas, institutions and conditions that constitute the contemporary practice and politics of global health policy.
The course starts with an exploration of the different disciplinary perspectives and key concepts that are integral to the scholarly analysis of global health policy. The course then interrogates the key structures of global health, including the governance architecture of global health policy and the structures of health systems. The third section of the course unpacks current issues in global health policy, focuses on the problems of power, justice and inequality.
The course will be delivered via lecture (2 x 50mins per week) and tutorial (1 x 50mins per week). Lecture periods will be used to explore the core theories and concepts, and to present examples of how to apply these to global health policy problems. Accompanied by core readings, the tutorials will present a space for reflection and debate of these issues, and further develop students' capacity to apply the concepts to case study material both as set and of their own development.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 120 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
166 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
60 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Essay - 40% - 1500 words
In Person Exam 60% |
| Feedback |
Feedback on all assessed work shall normally be returned within three weeks of submission. Where this is not possible, students shall be given clear expectations regarding the timing and methods of feedback. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the key principles of global health policy.
- Engage with a diverse range of literatures in global health policy, health systems, and health inequalities, as necessitated by the inter-disciplinary field.
- Interpret, analyse and evaluate evidence and arguments related to the field of global health policy.
- Apply ideas to the discussion of empirical and case study material, drawn from varied contexts.
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Reading List
There are no essential course textbooks. Example core readings include:
Buse, Mays and Walt (2012) Making Health Policy 2nd edition (Open UP)
Farmer, Kim, Kleinman, & Basilico, (2013). Reimagining global health: an introduction (Univ of California Press)
Smith, Hill and Bambra (2016) Health Inequalities: Critical Perspectives (OUP)
Hanefeld (2015) Globalisation and Health 2nd edition (Open UP)
World Health Organization. (2007). Everybody's business -- strengthening health systems to improve health outcomes : WHO's framework for action. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/43918 |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research and Inquiry (Analytical thinking): The course assists students in analysing, synthesising and appraising complex issues within global health.
Personal and Intellectual Autonomy (Creative and inventive thinking): As in interdisciplinary field, students taking this course will necessarily need to think beyond disciplinary/programme perspectives and engage creatively in appreciating the interplay between the ideas and problems presented in the course, as well as engaging with a range of perspectives.
Communication (Cross-Cultural communication): The course reflects a multicultural and global awareness, through reflecting on issues of health inequity and justice, and how policy areas within global health serve to exacerbate or ameliorate these. In order to do this, the course equips students with a sensitivity to the different contexts in which global health is practiced, and the power imbalances inherent in and across those contexts.
Communication (Written communication): The assessment strategies help students develop an ability to communicate ideas clearly. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Sudeepa Abeysinghe
Tel: (0131 6)51 5471
Email: Sudeepa.Abeysinghe@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr James Heitler
Tel:
Email: jheitler@ed.ac.uk |
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