Sex, Sexuality, and Gender.
As part of Boston University’s on-campus Master of Public Health (MPH) degree, you have the option to add a Context Certificate to your functional area of concentration, deepening your knowledge in an area or population of greatest interest to you.
Sex, Sexuality, and Gender Context Certificate
Inequality and discrimination related to gender and sexuality are major barriers to the attainment of health. Using behavioral and social science theory and methods as well as human rights and social justice frameworks, students will gain analytical, program, and policy skills to understand and address the behavioral, structural, and social determinants of gender inequality and their impacts on individual, community, and population health.
Upon graduation, students in the 12-credit certificate will be able to:
- Identify the determinants of health and disease related to gender, gender identity, and sexuality.
- Apply conceptual frameworks related to gender inequality, sexuality, and gender identity in order to address health challenges and support the health and social well-being of women, men, and youth, including those who are marginalized and disadvantaged.
- Demonstrate the ability to access and use data to estimate the burden and patterns of disease and solve public health problems related to sex, sexuality, and gender.
- Use systematic approaches to develop, implement, evaluate, and advocate for gender and sexual and reproductive health policies, programs, or services.
- Make programmatic and policy decisions that reflect ethical frameworks and respect for the values, beliefs, and practices regarding sexual health and rights within diverse communities and cultures.
Sample Course Titles
- Gender, Sexuality, Power, and Inequity in Global Health
- Sexual and Reproductive Advocacy: Practice in Global and Local Context
- Sexual & Reproductive Health in Disaster Settings
- Global AIDS Epidemic: Social and Economic Determinants, Impact, and Responses
- Safer Sex in the City
- Health of LGBT Populations
View the BU Bulletin for Course Requirements
Sample Practicum
- Obstetric and perinatal outcomes in US-born and foreign-born women, Boston Medical Center
- Analyzing childhood malnutrition, sexual education, and contraceptive availability in Nicaragua, Brookline Sister City Project (Quezelquague, Nicaragua)
- Embedding psychiatric services within OBGYN at Boston Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine
- Conducting a needs assessment that provided the non-profit with a better understanding of the magnitude and types of gender-based violence, Institut Mere-Enfant de Kaolack (Senegal)
- Testing through qualitative and quantitative research methods the impact of interventions to address gender-based violence, World Education (Tanzania)
- Conducting root cause analysis for home deliveries in Lesotho, Lesotho-Boston Health Alliance (LeBoHA)
- Educating Tanzanian girls on menstrual hygiene management, United African Community Center (Tanzania)
- Developing a module to improve provision of reproductive education and clinical services, Roots of Health (Philippines)
- OB/GYN immunization and postpartum depression support, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston, MA)
- Developing a violence prevention curriculum framework, Boston Public Health Commission
- Testing a technology-based intervention to improve adherence to antiretroviral therapy in pregnant and postpartum women, WiseMama Uganda
Certificate Director
“Gender, sexuality and sexual and reproductive health and rights are essential to the wellbeing of individuals and communities around the world. Yet, not a day goes by when these issues and rights go uncontested, when discrimination on the basis of gender, sexuality, sexual orientation and sexual identity is not prominent in public policy, law, the news media and in our daily lives. The Sex, Sexuality and Gender certificate offers students the opportunity to analyze and address pressing health problems through rights-based approaches and behavioral and social science theory and methods.”