PUBH640 - Global Health and Sustainable Development

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Unit rationale, description and aim

We are constantly reminded that health is global in nature, affecting populations irrespective of country, culture and ideology. Responses to challenges in health therefore need to be global as well, transcending national boundaries, governments and health care systems. In addition, global health depends on development and prosperity that is achieved without irreversible depletion of natural resources and exploitation of environments. This unit will equip students with the theoretical and practical knowledge related to global health and sustainable development. Students will learn about health as a human right, the concept of social justice as well as sustainability in health and the sustainable development goals. They will distinguish the terms international, global and globalization; they will identify who are the main players in global health and critique the roles that these players have; they will discuss goal setting for global health improvement as well as global health inequalities, and global health and environmental health; the role of trans-national corporations will be examined; threats to global health and sustainability will be identified. The aim will be to equip students with sufficient knowledge about global health to be able to interpret trends in the global health literature as well as deepen students' appreciation of the interdependence of global health and sustainable development using contemporary examples and case studies.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Demonstrate specialised knowledge of global health and sustainable development including the role of actors in global health, goal setting for global health improvement, and global health inequalities;(GA1, GA5, GA8) 

LO2 - Critically assess the relationship between global health and the physical environment (GA2, GA4, GA5)

LO3 - Evaluate the roles and responsibilities of multi-national corporations in global health (GA3, GA6)

LO4 - Critically discuss a global response/challenge that threatens global health and sustainability (GA2, GA4, GA6, GA9) 

Graduate attributes

GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

Content

Topics will include: 

•  The role of actors in global health 
• Goal setting for global health improvement 
• Global health inequalities   
•  Global health and environmental health 
•  The role of multi-national corporations
•  What can we learn from global health events / actions ?
•  Case study: e.g. H1N1, HIV/AIDS, Polio eradication
•  Threats to global health and sustainability 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

PUBH640 is offered in multi-mode and online modes. The unit uses an active learning approach where activities support all students to acquire essential theoretical knowledge This is via a series of asynchronous online lessons which include readings, discussion forums and self-directed learning activities supported by online materials.

In multi-mode mode, students are supported to synthesise their knowledge by attending on campus tutorials. In online mode, students are given the opportunity to attend facilitated synchronous online tutorial classes to participate in the development and synthesis of this knowledge with other students.

The learning and teaching strategies of this unit are designed to allow students to meet the aims and learning outcomes of the unit, and the Graduate Attributes of the University. Students will be expected to take responsibility for their learning and to engage actively with unit content and learning activities.

Assessment strategy and rationale

A range of assessment procedures will be used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. In order to successfully complete this unit, students need to complete and submit three graded assessment tasks and obtain an aggregate mark of at least 50%. 

The assessment strategy allows students to progressively develop their knowledge and skills to the level of sophistication where they are able to critique global responses to emergencies and design an evaluation of a global health initiative. In order to develop the knowledge and skills required to achieve the learning outcomes and Graduate Attributes, students first demonstrate knowledge through a short-answer assignment, further develop their understanding through synthesising this knowledge in the development of a critique of global responses to an environmental health challenge, and apply their understanding in an authentic way through the design of an evaluation of a global health initiative. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Baum, F. (2016). The new public health (4th ed). Oxford University Press.

Liamputtong, P. (2019). Public health: local & global perspectives (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Barr, C. (2017). Inequality index: where are the world's most unequal countries? https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/datablog/2017/apr/26/inequality-index-where-are-the-worlds- most-unequal-countries

Jamieson, D., Summers, L., Alleyne, G., Arrow, K., Berkley, S., Binagwaho, A., Bustreo, F., Evans, D., Feachem, R., Frenk, J., Ghosh, G., Goldie, S., Guo, Y., Gupta, S., Horton, R., Kruk, M., Mahmoud, A., Mohohlo, L., Ncube, M., …Yamey, G. (2013). Global health 2035: a world converging within a generation. The Lancet; 382: 1898–955 http://globalhealth2035.org/sites/default/files/report/global-health-2035.pdf