| Title: |
International Governance and Politics of Global Health |
| Keywords: |
Public-private
Human rights
Governance
Globalization
Access
|
| Country: |
Spain
|
| Institution: |
Spain - Barcelona Institute for Global Health - University of Barcelona
|
| Course coordinator: |
Pablo Pareja
Adrián Alonso Ruiz
|
| Date start: |
2025-01-20 |
| Date end: |
2025-01-30 |
| About duration and dates: |
3 weeks, including: Eight days face-to-face classes for two weeks and Independent study and work along 3 weeks; Course application deadline is usually 2 weeks prior to the first face-to-face course day. |
| Classification: |
advanced optional
|
| Mode of delivery: |
Face to face
|
Course location:
UFaculty of Medicine and Health Sciences –University of Barcelona
Aula Manuel Corachan
C/ Casanova, 143
08036 Barcelona, Spain |
|
| ECTS credit points: |
4 ECTS credits
|
SIT:
4 ECTS, 100 SIT
● Hours of face-to-face learning: 32 h
● Hours of independent study (not face to face and not tutored): 48 h
● Hours for evaluation written assignment: 20 h
Total: 100 h |
|
| Language: |
English
|
Description:
At the end of the course students should be able to:
1. Explain the foundational concepts of global health governance, including the evolution of global health law, and the several normative frameworks that articulate global health governance.
2. Analyse changes and trends in the political economy of global health, including financial and agenda setting implications for global health organisations and programmes, such as UN institutions, bilateral donors, NGOs, PPPs, and emergent stakeholders.
3. Critically discuss the principles of ‘the right to health’ in today's world and the ways in which the latter relates to health- and non-health-specific international agreements and treaties.
4. Assess the politics and policies of global health, the role of state and non-state actors, and the impact of international diplomatic efforts in shaping global health governance, with a particular focus on contemporary challenges such as pandemics. |
|
Assessment Procedures:
Students in the course will be evaluated individually using the following three assessment tools:
1 and 2. Two assessment tasks (45% of final grade, 20% and 25% respectively). These tasks will serve two main purposes: first, to provide students with a more in-depth understanding of some specific aspects/challenges affecting the international governance and politics of global health; and second, to help students gain the necessary abilities and skills to produce timely and concise documents.
i. The first task (20% of final grade) is a written individual blog post proposal of maximum 600 words in which the student defends their position on a controversial Global Health Governance topic assigned by the coordinators.
ii. The second task (25% of final grade) consists of a group-based assignment and an oral presentation (10 minutes) on a transversal issue related to Global health Governance.
3. Final Individual Paper (55% of final grade): Based on a case study (the same for all students) and five guiding questions, the student will need to produce and submit a written original commentary of 1,500 words, excluding references, graphs and tables. Deadline for submission is one week after the end of the face-to-face sessions.
Passing requires a minimum of 5 (out of a maximum of 10) over all of the assessments. Students must obtain ≥ 4 out of 10 in order to pass the Final Individual Paper (see above) and compensate for all the components of the grade.
A specific rubric to evaluate each assessment component will be shared at the start of the course.
Resit: Students who do not pass will be asked to resubmit their paper integrating the written feedback provided by the faculty. The deadline to resubmit the paper will be 15 days from the date when the ordinary grades are communicated.
Please, see an example of a group-based assessment task (oral presentation) and the rubric in Annexes 1 & 2. |
|
Content:
The course is divided into four complementary blocks/units:
I. GLOBAL HEALTH, GLOBAL HEALTH LAW AND FOUNDATIONS OF GLOBAL HEALTH GOVERNANCE
1. Globalisation, cooperation and conflict in the contemporaneous international society
- Order and anarchy in the international society.
- The globalisation process.
- Regionalism in the international society.
- Power in international relations.
- International actors and authorities.
2. Security and Global Health in the contemporaneous international society
- The evolution of the concept of international security.
- Global governance of global threats.
- Health inequities in a globalised world.
- The global dimension of health and the global health security.
3. Introduction to Global Health Law I
- Key methods, processes, instruments and international law mechanisms.
- Health as an object of international cooperation and regulation.
- The origins of Global Health Law.
- The United Nations and the International Governance of Global Health.
4. Introduction to Global Health Law II
- The main features of contemporary Global Health Law
- Health as a Human Right
- The implementation of Global Health Law
- The effectiveness of Global Health Law
5. Global Health Governance, definitions, challenges and trends
- Contending definitions of Global Health Governance
- Main dimensions of Global Health Governance
- Contemporary trends in Global Health Governance
- Pressing challenges in Global Health Governance
6. The structure of Global Health Governance and international institutions
- The multi-layered structure of Global Health Governance
- Main actors in Global Health Governance
- The essential role of international institutions
- The pivotal position of the World Health Organisation
II. THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF GLOBAL HEALTH
7. Global Health R&D and provision of public goods
- Introduction to Global Public Goods (GPG). Knowledge as a GPG
- Creating technical standards for Global Health:
o AMR (Priority Pathogens List, TPPs, pipeline and funding sources).
o Essential Medicines List.
8. Global Health Financing
- Financial flows in aid for development and the Global Health sector
- The impact of the global economic crisis in aid
9. International cooperation and aid in Global Health, actors and architecture of the aid system
- Evolution of the development doctrines.
- Structure and scope of the international cooperation and aid system.
- The United Nations agencies; relevant roles and mechanisms for international cooperation programmes
- New donors and traditional donors in Global Health; the role of public and private sectors, philanthropy organisations and NGOs.
- Relevant funding mechanisms.
- Major factors influencing the transformation of the international aid and development agenda.
10. Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in global health
- The new formula of public-private partnerships in global health.
- Typologies and legal approach.
- Financial and operational activity of PPP in global health.
- The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
- Others PPP in global health.
III. INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE FOR HEALTH
11. Pharmaceutical Patents and Global Health
- International regulation of intellectual property and its relationship to public health
- The agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights, TRIPS plus and TRIPS extra
- WHO action in the area of intellectual property and public health
12. Global Health and International Trade
- The multilateral trading regime and aspects related to health
- Principles and exceptions that govern international trade
- Trade agreements and international technical standards
IV. GLOBAL HEALTH POLITICS AND POLICIES
13. Politics and Global Health Diplomacy
- Health and foreign policy
- The actors, stakeholders and interest groups involved in global health governance and diplomacy
- The dynamics of global health negotiations
12. Application of Global Health Law
- The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
- The International Health Regulations
- Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework
- The Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel
15. Non-State Actors in Global Health
- Definition of non-state actors and its role in Global Health.
- Global Health Partnerships. The role of Unitaid expanding global access to medicines.
16. The pandemic Treaty – Rulemaking to address the response to pandemic
- The development of medical countermeasures
- The need for international rules to govern pandemic preparedness and response
- Scope of the Treaty, its negotiation, barriers and its relation to global health governance and international politics |
|
Methods:
Learning methods include:
- Face-to-face theoretical-practical sessions, with presentations by lecturers, debate and class discussion.
- Group and individual oral and written exercises for the student to familiarise with the content.
- Each session provides specific essential reading to be familiar with the fundamentals of the topic and for evaluation activities. These readings are a crucial individual activity to ensure standard knowledge and understanding of basic concepts, principles and tools. This will need to start at least two days before the start of the face-to-face sessions.
- Additional recommended reading is an individual but optional activity depending on the interests and specialisation of the student. |
|
Prerequisites:
tropEd candidates must accredit an English language level TOEFL test 550 or 213 computer-based or 79/80 internet-based or IELTS band 6.0 or equivalent. |
|
Attendance:
Maximum of 35 students per course |
|
Selection:
Based on CV and motivation letter |
|
Fees:
760 € + University taxes (80 Euro approx.) |
|
Scholarships:
Not available |
|
Major changes since initial accreditation:
There have been no changes in terms of objectives, learning methods, and content.
The main changes are related to the evaluation methods. Following student’s feedback, class participation has been eliminated and now there are only two individual written assignments and a group based assignment and an oral presentation.
Group-based oral presentations were introduced to offer students the opportunity to learn from each other.
Another change for next edition of the course is that one of the main coordinators since the course started, will be replaced by Adrián Alonso Ruiz, an expert on health access that has already contributed to this course in recent years and graduate of the University of Barcelona - ISGlobal Master of Global Health. Although Joan Tallada will keep on contributing to the course as lecturer, Adrián will take the lead in the coordination, together with Pablo Pareja, and this has resulted in some reorganisation and changes in the content. The main goal of the course remains the same. |
|
Student evaluation:
The course is evaluated every year using both an online confidential questionnaire (using both scoring and open-ended questions) and in-class oral feedback. The score of this course has been consistently between 4 and 5 in a scale 1 to 5.
In previous editions some of the sessions were graded less than 4 and there were some concerns due to the low teaching skills of some teachers, who were replaced.
Most criticism from students concentrated on the evaluation methods that have been modified accordingly (see above). |
|
Lessons learned:
Some of the guest teachers were very knowledgeable but not well skilled to teach, and were replaced.
Combining different types of assignments offer students multiple opportunities to be assessed (in opposition to one single examination procedure), something the majority of them find more appropriate. |
|
tropEd accreditation:
Accredited in December 2014. Reaccredited in June 2019, in Umeå. Reaccredited in Nov. 2024 in EC Telco. This accreditation is valid until Nov. 2029. |
|
| Email Address: |
nuria.casamitjana@isglobal.org |
| Date Of Record Creation: |
2014-12-20 13:54:38 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Of Record Release: |
2014-12-20 20:06:54 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Record Checked: |
2019-08-14 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Last Modified: |
2024-12-04 15:28:10 (W3C-DTF) |
