Global Health

• SPH GH 701: Global Health Storytelling
  Global Health Storytelling is an interdisciplinary class for journalism and public health students who have a passionate interest in crafting rich, nuanced, compelling narratives about global health for a broad audience. This is a class for public health students who want to create multi-media narratives about public health science, practice, and policies in a style and format that will appeal to all readers. Likewise, it is a class for journalism or other communication-focused students interested in strengthening their understanding of public health. Students will develop visual and narrative storytelling skills and practice through a multi-draft writing process while also learning to use still and video cameras and editing techniques. Students will learn from public health and journalism professors, guest speakers, and each other as they work on team reporting projects.
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  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
• SPH GH 722: Supply Chain Management for Improved Health System Performance
  Supply chain logistics is an important aspect of public health programs. While often overlooked, efficient supply chains and their management determine whether life-saving medicines and vaccines reach the people who need them most. Global COVID-19 vaccine supply and distribution has posed one of the greatest logistical public health challenges of our time. This course provides a practical introduction to the core tenets of health commodity supply chain management (SCM), with a primary focus on global health while integrating domestic considerations. Students will explore system design, assessment, quantification, procurement, inventory management, and logistics management information systems. Using the "Access Framework," students will gain foundational knowledge, including analytical skills, and apply that knowledge in hands-on exercises, class discussions, and real-life case studies. This course incorporates a strong experiential component to enhance learning including simulations and interviewing subject area experts about current supply chain management innovations and challenges.
• SPH GH 743: Implementing Health Programs in Developing Countries: Making Programs Work
  Graduate Prerequisites: For advanced MPH students (>16 credits completed). Recommend completion of GH744 prior to taking GH743, but not required. As professionals working in different settings, we often end up running programs we did not design, which are under-financed and face enormous implementation challenges. In this practice-based course, students will work with a specifically identified health program that is currently being implemented. They will conduct systems analyses, undertake problem solving exercises, and propose solutions to real implementation challenges in the field. Ultimately, they will be able to prioritize the interventions necessary to effectively run a complex health program in such diverse situations as urban slums and dispersed rural areas in a variety of settings and be prepared to plan the actions to effectively run those programs. This course is directed towards students in the health management emphasis area and is not suitable for students in their first semester of studies. Students who will particularly benefit from this course are both U.S. and international students who plan to manage programs in different settings, including in low-and middle-income countries.
• SPH GH 744S: Program Design for Global Health
  Students cannot take both GH744 and GH887. Developing a structured approach to program design is an important skill for public health professionals. GH744 is a practice-based course that provides an opportunity to learn and apply the key steps of program design. The course invites students to work with an international or national non-governmental organization to design a public health program. The non-governmental organization will orient student consultant teams with a scope of work that will contain guidelines for developing a program for the organization and identifying prospective donors for funding. To complete the scope of work, each team will identify and describe a relevant public health problem and apply evidenced based solutions to address the problem(s). Course work will also sharpen the knowledge and the skills required for working effectively in a team and students will learn to reflect on individual and team performance. Students will also document their knowledge and skills in program design. Strongly recommend students take GH745: Monitoring and Evaluation of Global Health Programs to obtain critical monitoring and evaluation skills that will be used in this course. Class Notes: Can't also take GH887 ; GH744 requires a significant out of class commitment. Students should not register for other courses that meet in the same weeks.
• SPH GH 745: Monitoring and Evaluation of Global Health Programs
  Graduate Prerequisites: (SPHPH717) or instructor permission. - here is consensus within the public health community that inadequate project monitoring and evaluation (M&E) represents a major constraint in programmatic efforts to address the problems we face. The absence of sound M&E processes in large numbers of public health projects, despite continued evidence of their value in assessing and improving project performance, suggests that many project planners and managers may not yet have the necessary skills or understanding to develop and operate such systems. This course is designed to help address this need. This course provides a detailed analysis of program monitoring and evaluation with an emphasis on public health and nutrition-related projects. By reading relevant literature and using case studies, students will gain an understanding of the language and tools of program evaluation. The course will focus both on theory and practical application, and will consist of presentations, discussions, and applied exercises involving the preparation and critiquing of monitoring and evaluation plans. The course has a required, non-credit lab that is scheduled in a different time slot than the class.
• SPH GH 750: Gender, Sexuality, Power, and Inequality in Global Health
  This course explores the socio-cultural, economic and political contexts in which people live their lives and how these, and local and large-scale forces of structural violence (inequity, marginalization and gender discrimination) impact health and development around the world. Course readings and discussions examine how these forces constitute immediate and fundamental risk factors and must therefore be considered and addressed as part of any effort to improve global public health. Students will identify a public health problem related to gender, sexuality, and/or sexual health and rights in a country of their choice and write a policy brief that identifies the determinants of that problem, analyzes the national response to that problem, and makes recommendations to strengthen the national response. Course format: seminar with topics introduced by professor and guest lecturers.
• SPH GH 755: Managing Disasters and Complex Humanitarian Emergencies
  The incidence and severity of public health emergencies due to violent conflict and natural disasters is rising and are increasingly devastating to individuals, communities and their property. In recent years the world has witnessed the devastating effects of earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, the COVID-19 pandemic, including ongoing and protracted wars around the world. This course exposes students to various aspects of disasters and humanitarian emergencies globally. Course readings and discussions explore the causes and consequences of disasters and humanitarian emergencies including population displacements. Students learn immediate rapid response, long-term public health interventions and disaster risk reduction and preparedness. Given the ever-changing nature of humanitarian emergencies, course readings and lectures are supplemented with weekly discussions of the most current events in the field. Experts share their experiences on how to prepare for personal involvement of living and working in relief situations.
• SPH GH 760: Foundations in Global Health
  Achieving global health requires an understanding of how politics, economics, ethnicity, gender and culture affect individual and population-wide health care actions, systems, and strategies, not only domestically but also globally. In this dynamic course, students explore the magnitude of global morbidity and mortality, uncover the root causes of health disparities, and examine the far-reaching consequences of global health challenges - t especially in low- and middle-income countries. Students critically analyze the t historic and present-day power imbalances, including the legacy of colonialism, that continue to shape global health institutions and national policies. Students gain hands-on skills to design and implement sustainable, evidence-based, multi-sectoral interventions to address key global health challenges ensuring that programs and policies are not just well-intended but truly effective. This course provides students the opportunity to apply these foundational skills to develop cross-cultural awareness and resourcefulness in solving problems that they may encounter in their professional careers.
• SPH GH 762: Essentials of Economics and Finance for Global Health
  This course provides an introduction to health economics, with an emphasis on evaluating costs and cost-effectiveness of public health interventions and programs in resource-constrained settings, such as developing countries. Issues of financing to pay for effective and cost-effective naturally follow. The course does not assume prior training in economics, and provides the conceptual underpinnings of health economics but emphasizes skills needed to complete applied evaluations in real world settings. Case studies, based on actual studies completed by faculty, focus on practical applications.
• SPH GH 765: Global Mental Health
  Mental health is relatively new to the global health agenda. At the 54th World Health Assembly in 2001, the WHO and health ministers from around the world made an impassioned argument that mental health disorders be systematically measured and addressed in all countries. Since then critical progress has been made in understanding the global burden of mental illness and the challenges faced by those in need of care in low and middle-income countries or in contexts marked by armed conflict or natural disasters. Likewise, the role of culture in defining ways in which mental illness manifests itself has been incorporated into international diagnostic manuals. Nevertheless, change has been slow and many who need mental health services continue to go without diagnosis or treatment and confront ongoing stigma and discrimination. Class sessions and assignments provide students with a chance to explore the critical role played by the social, cultural, and economic context in shaping mental health and illness.
• SPH GH 766: Sexual and Reproductive Health in Disaster Settings
  Disasters (natural and armed conflicts) pose various negative health outcomes to affected populations. In the wake of a disaster women, children and men are especially vulnerable to exploitation, rape, forced marriages, forced pregnancies and other types of human rights abuses. War time male-directed sexual violence has also been increasingly noted among those recruited into militia, detained by armed groups and those going about their daily tasks. This course will expose participants to sexual and reproductive health of populations in disaster settings. The contextual factors and consequences affecting populations’ sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in complex emergencies will be explored. Participants will learn how to plan for and implement a set of priority activities known as Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP), and transition from the MISP to comprehensive SRH services which is implemented when the situation is relatively stable. Reproductive health coordination which is an integral part of SRH in emergencies will be analyzed. Disaster risk reduction, advocacy and funding for reproductive health in crises situations will be discussed.
• SPH GH 770: Poverty, Health, and Development
  Graduate Prerequisites: Having a working knowledge of Excel software is helpful, but not required. Poverty, development, and health status remain enduring issues of our time, both in low income and high income countries alike. The goal of this course is to introduce students to the basic concepts and interrelated nature of poverty and development (including the dynamics and measures of poverty, inequality, and global burden of disease). We will then focus on a number of important cross-cutting health challenges that relate closely to levels of poverty and development, such as child health, maternal health, HIV and AIDS, women's empowerment, and climate change. The course draws on a variety of teaching methods, including large and small discussions, student-led workshops, guest lectures, and interactive exercises, as well as a set of team-based activities concentrated on one of the cross-cutting health challenges. Students will gain a deep knowledge of the interwoven nature of changes in poverty, inequities, and health status, and by the end of the class will be experts in at least one of the major topic areas, as they advance their skills in teamwork, engaging their peers on a specific health-related topic, conducting research and in-depth analysis, and disseminating their findings.
• SPH GH 773: Financial Management for Health Programs
  Health care managers must be prepared to talk about financial issues, analyze and interpret data, and make decisions using financial information. This course develops competencies in cost analysis, pricing, budgeting, and reading and interpreting financial reports in domestic and international health settings. In addition to using principles of differential and full cost analysis, students gain skills in breakeven analysis and calculating mark-ups. Examples are drawn from hospitals, clinics, and programs implemented by non-governmental organizations.
• SPH GH 795: Global AIDS Epidemic: Social & Economic Determinants, Impact, & Responses
  Graduate Prerequisites: The MPH core course in social and behavioral science. AIDS is one of the most important pandemics and human development challenges of our time. This course explores the determinants and impacts of the AIDS pandemic, including poverty, inequality, and human rights violations, examines best practices in prevention and treatment, and movements for positive policy changes globally. Students will explore the relationship between human rights, gender and vulnerability to HIV; examine effective multi-sectoral responses; and evaluate the benefits and limitations of major multi- and bi-lateral AIDS initiatives. Students will also examine the major debates in the AIDS field and explore different, at times contradictory, perspectives. Students will write a policy brief focused on an HIV-related problem in a country of their choice. Students will identify the determinants of that problem, analyze the legal, policy and programmatic response to that problem, and make recommendations to improve the national response.
• SPH GH 801: How to License a New Vaccine
  Vaccines are one of public health's most powerful tools. Vaccines have controlled many of the worst childhood infectious diseases, including bacterial meningitis, measles, diphtheria, and pertussis. Smallpox has been completely eradicated - and polio may soon follow. But where do vaccines come from? The goal of this course is to open the black box and give students a hands-on introduction to the challenging but fascinating process of clinical development, using the development of a new vaccine as the case study. The class is designed as an extended and competitive simulation -- essentially a game with pedagogic purpose. The students assume the role of clinical development teams at a hypothetical pharmaceutical company working to advance the development of a new vaccine. Each year, the class will select a vaccine candidate to enter development. Over the subsequent sessions, the students will advance their vaccine with the ultimate goal of securing licensure by FDA. In this course, students will acquire a deep understanding of clinical development and the regulatory process, will learn about contemporary and historical aspects of vaccine development, clinical epidemiology, and infectious diseases. By the end of the course, students will have a solid understanding of what it takes to bring a vaccine to market, while honing their skills at working in teams, giving professional presentations, and providing and responding to constructive feedback.
• SPH GH 805: Controversies in Global Control and Eradication of Infectious Diseases
  Graduate Prerequisites: (SPHPH717) - Control of infectious diseases and especially pandemics has become urgent public policy. This course focuses on active controversies regarding past and current eradication/control campaigns for infectious diseases. We consider the biological, epidemiological, sociological, political, ethical, and programmatic features that allowed the smallpox eradication campaign to succeed, as a template for understanding control of other infectious diseases. Current candidates for global eradication/elimination campaigns that will be covered include SARS CoV-2, smallpox, polio, measles, malaria, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, and dracunculiasis, and any new outbreaks that may be occur during the semester. We will explore and discuss how basic and clinical scientific findings from the primary scientific literature drives our understanding of disease transmission and mitigation strategies. Source material will consist of focused readings of the primary scientific literature, podcast interviews of global program leaders (e.g. GAVI, BMGF), policy memos and group presentations with class discussions. The goal is to inform students of the elements of infectious disease control involving different pathogens, in varied populations, and to achieve an understanding of the rationale behind different control program designs. This will prepare the student to more meaningfully participate in the important policy debate around infectious disease control. This is an advanced level seminar course.
• SPH GH 806: Using Digital Technologies to Improve Health Outcomes
  Located at the crossroads of technology, informatics and public health, digital health (clinical and public health practice supported by digital devices and services) emerged from its pilot stage in the early 2010s to become a central component of modern public health practice. In this course, you will learn how to design, develop, implement and evaluate digital health tools. You will also learn about the current state of the field, what career paths are available to digital health specialists, and how a background in digital health can be useful to all public health practitioners. This course is suited for students who are at least in their second semester and who are familiar or interested in learning more about how technology intersects with the health sector.
• SPH GH 811: Applied Research Methods in Global Health
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPHPH717 or consent of instructor. - The objective of this course is to teach student teams how to collect and analyze data to answer research questions and evaluate health interventions. Student teams will conduct a research study with multiple research methods including a cross-sectional survey and their choice from a variety of qualitative methods. The scope of the research questions addressed will be limited to minimal risk research conducted with students on the Boston University Medical Campus in the space of a semester. Each team will design a questionnaire, administer it, and enter and analyze the data using R. In conjunction with the cross-sectional survey, each team will also use some form of qualitative method, such as in-depth interviews or focus group discussions. The student teams will integrate the results of the cross-sectional survey and the qualitative research and present a report with findings and recommendations to their peers and faculty members. Students completing the course will have the skills to be able to collect and analyze data in a wide variety of settings.
• SPH GH 815: Methods for Impact Evaluation
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPH PH717 and GH745 and a statistical computing course, either BS723 o r BS730 - This four-credit course provides students with a set of theoretical and methodological skills to evaluate the causal impacts of public health programs and policies. Students learn to use a broad range of evaluation methodologies, including experimental and quasi-experimental designs. They strengthen their skills through critical analysis of published evaluation research. They also apply their skills to design an ideal impact evaluation for an intervention or program of their own choosing. Students taking this course should already be competent in understanding and applying basic quantitative methods for public health research. This is a Third Level course intended for MPH students enrolled in the Monitoring and Evaluation Certificate, and these students are given priority for enrollment. Other interested students may enroll, space permitting.
• SPH GH 854: From Data to Dashboards: Building Excel Skills to Support Health Program Decisions
  Graduate Prerequisites: For upper level MPH students who have basic proficiency with Excel - In these uncertain times, managers need, more than ever, to make sound decisions based on data. Good spreadsheet models are important tools in this process. Build your Excel "toolbox" by learning and applying robust formulas, graphing and dashboarding techniques, and data analysis in a wide range of real-world case study examples, such as cost and utilization analysis, estimation of revenues and expenses, and performance dashboards to monitor and evaluate performance of health interventions. Students will have the opportunity to build their own models to apply to a health service challenge of their choosing.