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PHPS41290

Academic Year 2024/2025

Global Public Health (Population, Planetary, Climate) (PHPS41290)

Subject:
Public Health & Population Sci
College:
Health & Agricultural Sciences
School:
Public Hlth, Phys & Sports Sci
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Assoc Professor Mary Codd
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This ten-credit module has two components: (1) an online 10-week course provided by the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE), a joint training programme delivered by ASPHER (The Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region) and the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, New York; and (2) in-person classes over 12 weeks focussed on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The 2025 GCCHE course aims to educate interdisciplinary professionals on the impacts of climate change on health. The course this year will address the role of health systems in their contribution to, and resilience in the face of climate change and issues of environmental degradation. Health systems, including hospitals, are on the frontlines of climate change, bearing the costs of increasing disease burdens and more frequent extreme weather events, while simultaneously inadvertently contributing to negative environmental and climate-related impacts. Climate change poses a myriad of threats to health systems and communities, which vary depending on geographic location, the intensity and magnitude of specific climate-related hazards (floods, droughts, severe storms, extreme heat, wildfires, disease outbreaks), the level of exposure to the hazard, and the level of existing vulnerability. Health systems which have transformed their structural and operational practices to confront these challenges have seen enormous benefits in terms of increasing their resilience in the face of climate challenges while simultaneously reducing operational costs.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals serve as a central framework for tackling health determinants and improving health outcomes. They address critical population and planetary challenges of our time, with an emphasis on strategies to improve public health, enhance health and education, reduce poverty and inequalities, foster economic growth, eliminate food and water insecurity, combat climate change, address the needs of vulnerable populations, and protect the environment for future generations. The course will examine global health governance, the roles of governments, donor aid, NGOs, and other international organisations in multidisciplinary collaboration to address health needs at both global and national levels.

Public health in conflict zones, including issues of internal and external migration, will be explored. The module also focuses on health challenges in resource-limited settings and strategies for less developed countries to meet their health needs with limited resources.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

Students will have an understanding of:
- fundamental global health principles;
- pressing health challenges worldwide, particularly in developing nations;
- the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework for action on global health issues;
- appropriate interventions by international entities and individual countries to meet health demands;
- public health responses to humanitarian emergencies;
- the intricacies of health systems, their contribution to and resilience in the face of the impacts of climate change;
- the organisation of health services in low-income regions;
- critical strategies and interventions to address key public health issues.

Students will have practical experience in researching and presenting a chosen public health issue at local, regional, national or international level, and policy implications of same.

Indicative Module Content:

This module has two components: (1) an online 10-week course provided by the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE), a joint training programme delivered by ASPHER (The Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region) and the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, New York; and (2) in-person classes over 12 weeks focussed on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

24

Seminar (or Webinar)

20

Conversation Class

12

Practical

12

Autonomous Student Learning

132

Total

200


Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Online GCCHE course (webinars) over a 10-week period, with assessment of content each week
In-person classes addressing and presenting the UN SDGs
Assigned readings
In-class discussions

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Quizzes/Short Exercises: Participation in 10-week GCCHE course (2% per webinar; 20% for full attendance); Weekly quiz on content and learning outcomes (2% per webinar; 20% total); End-of-course Certificate examination (10%) Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
50
No
Group Work Assignment: Record 5-minute TED talk on an important local, national or international PH issue of choice. Credit for topic selection, original ideas, critical analysis, policy implications, in-class questioning Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
50
No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Remediation Type Remediation Timing
In-Module Resit Prior to relevant Programme Exam Board
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

- The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023: Special Edition (https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2023/)
- Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (sustainabledevelopment.un.org)
- TIMES OF CRISIS, TIMES OF CHANGE. Science for accelerating transformations to Sustainable Development (https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/FINAL%20GSDR%202023-Digital%20-110923_1.pdf)
- European Climate Resilient Health Systems Course (https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/research/programs/global-consortium-climate-health-education/courses/european-climate-resilient-health-systems-course)

Name Role
Mr Karl Conyard Tutor

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26 Wed 13:00 - 14:50
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 23 Wed 13:00 - 14:50
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 29 Wed 13:00 - 14:50
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 30, 31, 32, 33 Wed 13:00 - 14:50