Global Health Perspectives - HLT 241
https://courses.vccs.edu/courses/HLT241-GlobalHealthPerspectives
Effective: 2024-05-01
Course Description
Examines global health theories, concepts, issues and prevention efforts. Analyzes the complex relationship between economics, environment, culture and values in addressing health disparities and access to healthcare around the globe. Explores health inequities across the globe by using contemporary, evidence-based topics.
Lecture 3 hours. Total 3 hours per week.
3 credits
The course outline below was developed as part of a statewide standardization process.
General Course Purpose
HLT 241 provides students with foundational knowledge related to global health policies and practices and how these are implemented around the world. The course will address various and complex global health topics and preventative efforts.
Course Objectives
- Civic Engagement
- Identify organizations that impact global health through policy, research, funding, and/or health promotion efforts
- Discuss current critical issues in global health
- Identify methods of addressing access to healthcare while considering current health disparities.
- Critical Thinking
- Analyze the historical, social, economic, cultural, and political factors that contribute to global population health
- Compare and contrast strategies used to address selected health issues at the community, national and global levels
- Discuss legal and ethical perspectives on global health problems
- Describe the relationship between human rights, inequities, and global health
- Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between low, middle, and high income countries relative to global health status
- Professional Readiness
- Communicate openly and accurately with others regarding the status, impacts and prevention of identified global health issues
- Discuss and resolve issues with peers through collaborative assignments and discussion
- Quantitative Literacy
- Describe terminology and standard measures/indicators of health
- Scientific Literacy
- Summarize the relationship between the environment and human health
- Research, select and utilize credible sources of global health information
- Written Communication
- Describe the history and function of global health
- Identify significant milestones in the history of global health
- Describe the relationship between culture and values and health disparities globally.
Major Topics to be Included
- Global Health: Past and Present
- Define health according to the World Health Organization
- Differentiate between public health and medicine
- Identify the three levels of prevention
- Define the scope of global health
- Identify significant milestones in the history of global health
- Discuss current critical issues in global health
- Define epidemiology, intervention, globalization, health transition, global health security
- Global Indicators & Burden of Disease
- Define maternal mortality ratio (MMR)
- Explain disability-adjusted life year (DALY)
- Define and differentiate child mortality rate and infant mortality rate
- Relate the connection of life expectancy at birth to a country?s general level of health
- Define morbidity, incidence, prevalence, birth rate, death rate
- Define gross national product (GNP) per capita and other economic indicators that indicate the health status of a country?s population
- Discuss the relationship between burden of disease and culture/values globally
- Social Determinants of Health
- Identify the social determinants of health that influence health status in global populations
- Define health disparity
- Identify factors that influence health disparities in global populations
- Identify approaches to increase cultural awareness
- Explain income and the relationship to social determinants of health
- Environmental Impacts on Global Health
- Describe the health impacts of climate change
- Discuss the effects of water, air and noise pollution on health
- Relate the effects of population growth and demographic transition on environmental health
- Global Health and Human Rights
- Define human rights, essential medication, distributive justice, and bioterrorism
- Describe the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
- Discuss the effects of access to basic human needs, health services, medicines, health and natural disasters as well as humanitarian aid have on the health of global populations
- Discuss human rights of special populations around the globe such as those in prison and people with disabilities
- Maternal and Child Health
- Define: reproductive health, fertility rate, gravidity, parity, maternal mortality rate, and child/infant mortality
- Describe the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the global maternal/child population
- Describe trends with fertility among high, middle, and low-income countries
- Identify factors that influence neonatal health
- Describe various initiatives designed to address maternal and child health issues across the globe and their benefits to maternal/child health in global populations
- Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis, COVID-19, or other diseases of concern globally.
- Define: non-communicable and communicable diseases, epidemiologic transition, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, agent, host and environment
- Describe the key factors that affect the global spread of disease
- Distinguish between risk factors for non-communicable and communicable diseases.
- Describe the relationship between climate and infectious diseases.
- Global Health Systems and Financing
- Discuss the three components needed to address the health needs of a population: health services, health promotion and health protection
- Describe the six components of health systems: leadership, management and governance for health, health finances, human resources for health, health products inventory, health infrastructure, and health intelligence
- Differentiate the four major models of health systems: Beveridge, Bismarck, National Health Insurance, Out of Pocket
- Define: pooled risk, premium, deductible, copay, co-insurance, foundation and endowment
- Assess the return on investment or value of a global health intervention
- Ethical Issues in Global Health
- Identify key terms and definitions related to ethics in global health
- Discuss the key ethical principles used to develop and implement global health policy
- Identify ethical issues in global health
- Define social justice and health equity
- Discuss the relationship between social justice and the health of global populations
- Nutrition Issues in Global Health
- Define food insecurity
- Identify factors that affect access to food, food choice, and food quality
- Identify global strategies for addressing food insecurity
- Identify the leading causes of malnutrition and hunger around the globe
- Discuss how political, economic, and social influences underpin global nutrition policy and its implementation and impact
- Identify threats to the global food supply
- Discuss best practices for protecting the global food supply