| Title: |
Global health in times of crises |
| Keywords: |
Planetary
Equity
Emerging diseases
Ecosystems
Conflict affected setting
|
| Country: |
Belgium
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| Institution: |
Belgium - Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine
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| Course coordinator: |
Dr. Remco Van de Pas
|
| Date start: |
2022-04-24 |
| Date end: |
2022-05-13 |
| About duration and dates: |
3 Weeks. Hybrid and Blended Learning: the course admits online and on-campus participants and uses technology enhanced teaching and learning activities. |
| Classification: |
advanced optional
|
| Mode of delivery: |
Blended-learning
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Course location:
Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine
Nationalestraat 155
B-2000 Antwerpen |
|
| ECTS credit points: |
5 ECTS credits
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|
SIT:
SIT: 136 hours (62 contact hours, 74 self-study hours) |
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| Language: |
English
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Description:
At the end of the course, participants should be able to:
1. Formulate possible actions to improve and sustain health at different levels, considering health equity, human rights, health system resilience, and ecological limits
2. Analyse global health crises and their interrelated causes and pathways, applying systems-thinking
3. Assess the role of actors at local, national and global level in health policy making, implementation and governance.
4. Explain what planetary boundaries are and how they impact health (equity) and wellbeing. |
|
Assessment Procedures:
Individual assessment: in a 2000 words essay we will formally assess the learner’s ability to carry out an analysis of a global health crisis by using a relevant conceptual framework and to
elaborate on how to address it.
Example:
How could your government, both domestically as well as via international cooperation, invest in health systems and at the same time mitigate and adapt to the (health) impacts of the ecological crisis?
Sub-questions:
Take a/your own country and government as a reference point. Think of a concrete health (systems) issue.
What is the main interrelated ecological and health crisis in your context? Please elaborate on the interrelationship and how the problem has changed over time.
What should be done to mitigate and adapt to the growing impact of the climate and ecological crisis, including for the health of people and the planet?
How to do this in a fair, equitable and just manner? Which actors are responsible for these actions and how would international collaboration look? Is there a trade-off between policy actions on ecological and social determinants of health or can they be addressed in an integrated manner (co-benefits of actions)?
Relevant background literature is provided in the first week of the course.
Criteria for evaluation of the essay:
- Quality of the analysis of a global health crisis and coherence of proposed interventions and arguments (50%)
- Quality of the reflections (30%)
- Quality of the essay structure and references (20%)
Resit Policy: In case of failing the assessment the student will be allowed, to once re-submit an essay based on a new exam question on a different health crisis decided by the course coordinator (within two months). Marking is on /20. 10/20 is the pass mark. |
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Content:
The course is organized into three parts:
In the first week ‘Introduction to the global health, ecological degradation and development nexus’, you will become familiar with practical and theoretical concepts about sustainable development, climate and environmental change, biodiversity loss, epidemic risks, conflicts, migration, and food insecurity, and how this impacts health and (public) health systems.
In the second week ‘Global health: tackling interrelated crises’, we examine the different impacts of three contemporary health risks in detail, and we discuss how to address them: the (re)-emergence of zoonotic diseases like Covid-19 and Avian Influenza, the escalation of the climate crisis, and migration and food insecurity. You will develop and present a case study outlining one of these crises in your context.
In the third week ‘Transforming health systems and societies’ we will focus on how to adapt and transform health systems and relevant sectors to address these multiple crises, and we will zoom in on the role of actors and governance at different levels. You will learn about and apply interrelated approaches such as health systems resilience, One Health/planetary health, advancing wellbeing economies and postgrowth policies, decoloniality, and health justice. |
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Methods:
This is a hybrid course, meaning that we deliver the course simultaneously on campus and online, but also blended, meaning that we use and combine F2F and technology enhanced teaching methods to foster the learning process.
We use a flipped classroom approach: structured self-study activities are an indispensable part of the learning and teaching process, on campus or online. The self-study activities will allow you to engage more actively in the classes and during group work, debates, role plays and seminars.
We apply a collaborative, action-oriented learning approach, including joint analysis and presentations of case studies, student-led debates on a global health topic, scenario thinking, etc. |
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Prerequisites:
The Short Course on Global Health in Times of Crises is a 3-week course for health and development professionals, researchers, policymakers, involved in practice, programmes and policy-making, and from low -, middle-, or high-income settings.
Academic degree
Applicants must hold a university degree of minimum 4 years (In Belgium a university degree is 5 years but exceptionally only 4), equivalent to min. 240 ECTS in health or social sciences or a relevant university degree providing a basis for (global) public health activities.
Experience
Applicants need at least 2 years of relevant work experience in the domain of public, global or environmental health, international development, in social or political sciences.
Language proficiency
Required level for English: Toefl 88 (internet-based), IELTS 6.5, CEFR C1 or equivalent. (ITM Toefl Code 7727).
Note: native English speakers are exempt from these language requirements. Applicants whose first language is not English are equally exempt if they have obtained 60 credits from a higher education programme taught in English. Non-native English speakers are also exempt from the English language requirement if they have a higher education diploma from a Flemish Community higher education institution as Higher Education Institutions in Flanders use predominantly English teaching and learning resources. |
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Attendance:
25 max. (no limit on tropEd students) |
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Selection:
Selection criteria
• Relevance of prior degrees, additional training and professional experience
• Professional motivation: interest in specific global health challenges with local relevance
• Potential professional, institutional or social impact of the course (fit with career perspective) |
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Fees:
730 Euros for EEA students and tropEd MSc students with a residence card in an EEA country.
1900 Euros for non-EEA students |
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Scholarships:
ITM can offer a number of fellowships to applicants from developing countries. Academic acceptance in the course is conditional to, but no guarantee for such scholarships. More information can be found on the ITM website (fees and scholarships) |
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tropEd accreditation:
Accredited in Munich in February 2023. This accreditation is valid until February 2028. |
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Remarks:
The course combines synchronous Face-to-Face & online teaching and learning environments
Key readings:
● Abimbola, S., & Pai, M. (2020). Will global health survive its decolonisation?. Lancet 396(10263), 1627-1628.
● Rushton, S. (2011). Global health security: security for whom? Security from what?. Political Studies, 59(4), 779-796.
● Harmer, A., Eder, B., Gepp, S., Leetz, A., & van de Pas, R. (2020). WHO should declare climate change a public health emergency. Bmj, 368.
● Steffen, W., Richardson, K., Rockström, J., Cornell, S. E., Fetzer, I., Bennett, E. M., ... & Folke, C. (2015). Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet. Science, 347(6223), 1259855.
● Whitmee, S., Haines, A., Beyrer, C., Boltz, F., Capon, A. G., de Souza Dias, B. F., ... & Yach, D. (2015). Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health. The lancet, 386(10007), 1973-2028.
● Moon, S., & Kickbusch, I. (2021). A pandemic treaty for a fragmented global polity. The Lancet Public Health, 6(6), e355-e356. |
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| Email Address: |
bbroucker@itg.be |
| Date Of Record Creation: |
2023-02-22 02:42:48 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Of Record Release: |
2023-02-22 08:54:28 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Record Checked: |
2023-02-22 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Last Modified: |
2023-07-17 12:39:44 (W3C-DTF) |
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