Students are required to complete three core courses from the following list. One of these courses must be "Introduction to International Public Health." Additional core courses may be offered.

GBL HLTH 301 Introduction to International Public Health
This advanced level course introduces NU students to the field of international public health with an emphasis on the developing world. The course orients students to the skills and sensitivities that must be mastered in order to understand the structural underpinnings and culture-specific interpretations of health and sickness in resource-poor settings. It explores the continuum between health and sickness and emphasizes the contribution of distal, as well as proximal, chronic, as well as acute, factors on health and well-being. Students learn about the major players in international health--the multilateral and bilateral donor communities, Ministries of Health, UN agencies--and understand the key shifts in donor policies towards healthcare delivery as promulgated at Alma Ata, Mexico City, Cairo and Beijing. Students are introduced to the major health problems currently impacting the developing world, and alerted to the importance of employing a population-based vs. a purely clinical approach to solving these health problems.

GBL HLTH 302 Global Bioethics
Bioethics represents an area of great challenge that, many would argue, requires an interdisciplinary approach. It is a relatively new area of focus, appearing only twenty-five or thirty years ago, as biomedicine developed new social and economic powers, as health resources became expensive and scarce, and as political concerns emerged about identifying a just way of allocating resources in the face of scarcity. Furthermore, the interconnectedness between clinical medicine, research medicine, public health, and the public and private funding of research, became very clear. The course will be team-taught by two professors, one from philosophy and one from anthropology. Readings will be drawn equally from both disciplines.

GBL HLTH 303 Gender and Global Health
How do the biological category "female" and the cultural category "woman" affect patterns of health and disease for both individuals and populations? How do different cultural constructions of gender, sex, and sexuality shape public policies concerning the inequitable distribution of health and disease within the US, Africa, Japan, South America, and Europe? How do the intersections of gender, biology, sexuality, class, race, and racism produce health inequities? To address these questions, this course explores case studies of breast cancer, sexual and reproductive health, mental health, violence, substance abuse, physician-patient interactions, infectious diseases, and access to health resources.

GBL HLTH 304 Violence and Global Health
This course covers the ways in which a number of forms of violence create both public health and legal problems in the international arena, exploring in each case the dimensions of the problem, causes and/or risk factors, and legal and public health interventions to address the issue. Among the topics that are addressed in a comparative/international framework are: gun violence; child abuse (physical and sexual abuse); domestic violence; and youth violence, among others. In each instance, the problem is considered both at home and abroad and is analyzed from both a legal and public health perspective.

GBL HLTH 390 Managing Global Health Challenges
Disease knows no borders, both pathogens and lifestyles move around the world and the people of every country share the risks. The responsibility for ensuring the public health rests with governments at local, national and international levels. Public health interventions require cooperation and partnerships at each level and with civil society organizations, corporations, businesses and individuals. These interventions are affected by public policies, availability of resources, and theories of public health and disease. Existing health organizations are increasingly challenged by the scope and magnitude of the current and future threats to public health such as the AIDS pandemic; the emergence of new and more virulent infectious diseases; the threats of bio-terrorism; growing resistance to antibiotics; lack of basic infrastructure of water, sanitation and inadequate access to drugs in developing countries; and overabundance of foods and complications from affluence, leading to health problems such as diabetes in higher income countries. This course will examine the global epidemiology of these diseases and threats to the populations of the world, and the current organizational structures that have been established to respond. A series of diseases, and geographical regions will be analyzed to consider how the international community is organizing its response to current problems in international public health. Special attention will be given to examples of effective strategies in interventions.

GBL HLTH 390 Human Rights and Global Health
This course focuses on the relationship between health and human rights. The course provides an overview of the epidemiology of human rights violations in the world and an analysis of the psychology of abuse. The course considers the role of health professionals and other health promoters in: documenting the health consequences of human rights violations, treating survivors of state-sponsored abuse, addressing specific human rights concerns of women and children, identifying the impact of health policy on human rights, and participating in human rights education and advocacy. Also, the contemporary human rights issues of universality and accountability are addressed.

GBL HLTH 390 Achieving Global Impact Through Local Engagement

This course is designed for those global health students who are seeking ways to have an impact on global health issues by engaging in local programs and organizations which are addressing these global health challenges. Students taking this course will explore roles and programs of global and local public, private and civil society sectors in addressing specific health issues.  Each student will be expected to identify a local organization or program prior to the start of the course, with which they would like to engage

GBL HLTH 390 Theories of Global Health

Global Health is an emerging field of interdisciplinary study which focuses on the global dimensions of health with special attention to improving the health of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens.  This seminar will draw on an interdisciplinary and international body of work by scholars and practitioners to explore an emerging values discourse as it relates to global health priority-setting, policy, governance, practice, and research, focusing on case studies in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. 

GBL HLTH 390 International Perspectives on Mental Health

This course will explore issues of mental health in cross-cultural, international perspective and examine the impact of psychological illness on the global burden of disease. 

GBL HLTH 390 Comparative Health Care Systems and Reforms

The core objective of this seminar is to examine the manner in which health care systems are organized in Europe and the US, the problems they are currently confronting, and the reforms designed to address these problems.

GBL HLTH 390 Disabilities and Global Health

This course will address the biopsychosocial impact of disability in locations around the world. The course provides an overview of theoretical models of disability, including medical and social models, and explores the nature of complex phenomena including identity, stigma, marginalization, and empowerment. The course will take a critical stance on dominant perceptions of disability and raise questions about how societies deal with biological diversity.

GBL HLTH 390 Global Health in Human History

Over the course of human history, health and disease patterns have charged markedly. The field of paleopathology explores the history of diseases, predominantly through skeletal patterns of evidence, to understand and predict its course in the future. This area of investigation also sheds light on how the past informs our understanding of health in contemporary human societies. In particular, paleopathology addresses such key questions as: (1) How have human groups perceived disease, transmission and treatment throughout history?: (2) How have patterns of disease changed over time?; and (3) Are they that much different than what we see today?

This course will explore patterns of pre- and proto-historic adaptations to human disease, health and medicine. A bio-cultural perspective on patterns of disease will provide a link between past perspectives and current realities. No explicit background in biology or osteology is required to be successful in this course.

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