MPH Context Certificate: Global Health

The mission of the Department of Global Health is to improve the health of underserved global populations through policy-relevant research; empowerment of citizens, governments, and organizations; and education of future global health leaders. We focus on the world’s three overriding health problems: poverty, disease, and inequity. The department focuses on infectious diseases (including HIV/AIDS), maternal and child health/reproductive health, noncommunicable diseases, access to medicines, health systems strengthening, and economic and policy analysis. Practice-based education is an area of particular focus, with coursework that teaches skills relevant to running programs to reduce disease and inequality in lower-middle and low-income countries. Our faculty have major research programs in South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, and India, and other research in Mexico, Ghana, the Gambia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Lebanon. Faculty in the Department of Global Health mentor students in the MPH degree and interdisciplinary master’s and doctoral degrees across SPH.

Upon graduation, students will be able to:

• Describe health challenges faced at global, national, regional, and community levels, including major causes of morbidity and mortality, and context-specific reasons for geographic variation in population health and well-being;
• Analyze a health system and its component elements in order to examine performance, identify strengths and weaknesses, and compare it to health systems in other countries;
• Explain the ways in which culture, social norms and institutions, laws, gender, economic status, access to education and health care, and other factors influence health;
• Conduct a situation analysis across a range of cultural, economic, and health contexts; and
• Demonstrate ability to access, summarize, synthesize, analyze, and communicate background information and public health evidence.

Course Requirements

• SPH GH 760 Foundations of Global Health (4 units)

Eight units from the following list of courses. These courses have been organized into three thematic areas to help you identify courses that will be most useful to your academic and professional goals. Some students may find it useful to choose several courses from the same thematic area in order to build specific expertise, but all students may choose any course in any thematic area.

Global Health Systems and Policy 

• SPH GH 755 Managing Disasters and Complex Humanitarian Emergencies (4 units)
• SPH GH 762 Essentials of Economics and Finance for Global Health (4 units)
• SPH GH 888 Seminar on Global Health Policy Issues (2 units)
• SPH GH 891 Global Pharmaceutical Policy (2 units)
• SPH PM 733 Health Program Management (4 units)
• SPH PM 740 Comparative Health Systems and Policy in Industrialized and BRIC Countries (4 units)

Global Burden of Disease 

• SPH GH 715 Antiretroviral Program Management and Adherence Issues in Low-Resource Settings (2 units)
• SPH GH 766 Sexual and Reproductive Health in Disaster Settings (4 units)
• SPH GH 805 Controversies in Global Health and Eradication of Infectious Diseases (2 units)
• SPH GH 880 Confronting Non-Communicable Diseases in the Developing World (4 units)
• SPH GH 881 Global Reproductive and Perinatal Health

Social & Cultural Determinants of Health 

• GMS MA 622 Religion, Culture, and Public Health (3 units)
• SPH GH 750 Gender, Sexuality, and Inequality in Global Health (4 units)
• SPH GH 765 Global Mental Health (2 units)
• SPH GH 770 Poverty, Health, and Development (4 units)
• SPH GH 795 Global AIDS Epidemic: Social and Economic Determinants, Impact, and Responses (4 units)
• SPH MC 786 Immigrant and Refugee Health in the United States (4 units)