Course syllabus
Course dates: 28th of August - 31st of October, 2023.
Course registration via Ladok under the following period: 21 August - 4 September. Students with an active student account should use the Ladok services on the Student portal, for registration. To activate your student account, contact any Student service centre or follow instructions here: Student account activation.
Overview
Contact information
Course coordinator: Ashish KC ashish.kc@gu.se
Course administrator: Mahira Mukhtarova publichealth@medicin.gu.se Please write the course code in the subject line when sending an e-mail!
Presentation of lecturers: see below
For students who are taking this course as a free-standing course, we recommend that you read carefully the WHO Conceptual framework for action on the social determinants of health (WHO, 2010) as well as "The next step towards more equity in health in Sweden: how can we close the gap in a generation?" (Lundberg, 2018).
Course focus
This course focuses on the role of public health governance for the achievement of health equality and equity. Actors and institutions, models and principles for governance and management, as well as theoretical and methodological tools for selecting, implementing, and evaluating public health interventions, are taught and discussed.
While you, in previous program courses, have learned how to identify and map the root causes of health inequity and inequality, in this course we will look at what can be done to promote equality and equity, through the means of different forms of policies and interventions. We will also take a closer look at what actors and institutions are involved in public health work, their different ideological points of departure, mandates, and roles.
The structure of the course:
Pedagogic profile
The course is designed to support your active participation in your own learning process. The aim is to support your ability to work independently with problem formulation, analysis, and writing, and, thus, to prepare you for the thesis course, future work life, and research studies. This does not mean that you will work alone, but that you will have time to read and write between each lecture and that you will get recurrent and individual feedback on your texts throughout the course. It further means that the lecturers will introduce and guide you in the new thematic areas, yet that you are expected to show intellectual and organizational independence, e.g. to plan your work and to, during lectures and seminars and in your writing, contribute with initiated reflections based on a thorough reading of the course literature.
The course combines theoretical perspectives and ‘real-life’ examples, as the lecturers have both research and practical experience of public health work. To further clarify how the theoretical models are linked to practical work the lecturers will explain these in relation to different country cases. These will function as guides, but your task is to apply the course content to a country case of your choice. You will work with two main projects that resemble tasks you are likely to be assigned as a future public health worker/researcher. You will:
- apply the course literature's theoretical models to an empirical case, i.e. describe how public health work is organized in a specified country (of your choice). You will assess health needs, identify and discuss different stakeholders and their work,
- identify a relevant program to address a health topic and then formulate a plan for how it can be implemented and evaluated in the country of your choice,
The examination of this course consists of two main assignments and an in-class test. The assignments are divided into sections (see the course modules and assignment instructions on Canvas). Each week has a specific theme that will support your continuous work with the assignments. The lecturers and the assigned literature will introduce you to the themes and explain the connection to health equality governance. A large part of the course consists of individual literature studies and writing, sometimes guided by study questions that aim to help you connect your reading with the learning objectives and the assignments.
The main course books are (selected chapters, see schedule below):
- Brownson et al. (2011) Evidence-based public health, Oxford Scholarship Online, selected chapters.
- Buse, K., Mays, N., & Walt, G. (2012), Making Health Policy, Open University Press Online.
- Smith & Hanson (2011) Health systems in low- and middle-income countries: an economic and policy perspective, Oxford Scholarship Online, selected chapters.
- Thorogood & Coombes (2009) Evaluating health promotion: practice and methods, Oxford Scholarship Online, selected chapters.
- Walley & Wright (2010) Public health: an action guide to improving health, Oxford Scholarship Online, selected chapters.
These books structure the course, while scientific articles addresses, more in-depth, different topics. The literature plays an important role in this course and you are expected to read and work on the assigned material before class, i.e. you are expected to come well prepared to lectures and seminars and take an active and informed part in discussions.
Learning objectives
Knowledge and understanding
- Identify and explain central theories and models of governance, public health interventions and evaluations, including how these pay attention to goals for health equity and equality;
- Describe the range of formal and informal actors and institutions involved in public health governance from global to local levels, including their role, mandates, sources of authority and interdependence;
- Identify principles of management in institutions and organisations working with public health-related issues and describe their importance for public health policy, interventions and evaluations;
Competence and skills
- Independently map how public health work in a specific country is organized, identify challenges and opportunities for universal health coverage and the realization of the right to health;
- Apply conceptual frameworks for policy analysis that provide knowledge about the influence of context and actors on how a policy process and policy content is formulated, and link such analysis to strategic planning for the improvement of the health of populations and specific target groups;
- Apply ethical principles for prioritization, formulate and communicate - to different stakeholders - a strategic plan for the identification, implementation and evaluation of equitable public health interventions;
Judgment and approach
- Contrast different political systems and forms of health policy and interventions with the help of governance theory;
- Critically reflect upon the process and outcome of governance for health equality and equity, including aspects related to the influence of different agendas, evidence and legal frameworks;
- Critically reflect upon the role of ideology, distribution of power and agency for different stakeholders’ ability to influence norms, agenda setting and policy as well as focus for and forms of interventions and their implementation.
Lecturers
Jahangir Khan, is a professor in health economics and has expertise also in health policy and health systems research, who has worked for e.g. Stockholm county council, icddr,b (Dhaka), Karolinska Institute, and Liverpool school of tropical medicine.
Jesper Löve, has a PhD in public health and is an expert in social epidemiology. His research and teaching focuses primarily on social inequalities in health; the link between welfare policies and inequities in health; gendered structures, intersectionality and health; stigma and mental health. He is currently the program director of the master's program in public health.
Mayssa Rekhis, is a medical doctor and has a PhD in anthropology. She has extensive experience in non-profit NGO work in the fields of health, human rights, and migration in North Africa, South West Asia, and Europe.
Sharon Fonn, a professor of public health science at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, is internationally recognized for her research aimed at improving the public health care system, with a focus on maternity care, HIV and chronic diseases. She has been an honorary doctor at Sahlgrenska Academy since 2015.
General student information
Please read the information to all students regarding Covid-19 here
Programme information on Student portal
Course registration via Ladok Services