Eck Institute for Global Health

When diseases emerge in Africa, the media presents a relentless tide of infection, with AIDS and Ebola, for example, claiming thousands of hapless victims of “backward” thinking and rejection of western medicine. Western journalists express disbelief that people suffer and die because they refuse to take appropriate steps to protect themselves, whether it is taking the sick to the hospital, or wearing condoms to avoid contracting HIV. We are led to ask why treatable or even preventable diseases are claiming so many African lives. Why does popular thinking about health and disease on the African continent appear to be impervious to biomedical models? This class uses an anthropological perspective to look beyond the simple popular and medical answers to questions of sickness to examine the social and political frameworks that inform people’s understandings of the health of their bodies and communities. This course will introduce students to cultural perspectives on disease through an investigation of how people around the continent understand and experience illness, and why what appears to be simple medical knowledge is anything but simple when it is understood in its social and political context. We will investigate the recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa, examine why polio persisted in Nigeria, and compare how the HIV epidemics unfolded in South Africa and Uganda. In addition to infectious diseases, we will ask questions about the social experience of disability in Africa, investigate hospital care, and draw comparisons with western perspectives.

Over the last two decades, there has been a groundswell of interest in global health across multiple disciplines and professional fields. The field of global health recognizes the multidimensionality of health as well as the interconnectedness of everyone living in the world today; its primary goal is to eliminate health disparities to achieve health equity for all. This course will provide foundational knowledge necessary to understand what global health is today; its history and evolution; how social theory contributes to understanding specific global health problems; the importance of understanding health and designing interventions by using a biosocial model that includes a myriad of cultural, social, political, economic factors; and an understanding of the role of various actors on the global health stage including international, bilateral, and civil society organizations.

Epidemiology is a flexible and powerful field of study for anyone with an interest in understanding, preventing, and treating the causes of human disease. This course will facilitate students' understanding of fundamental epidemiological concepts (e.g. terminology, calculations, etc.); methods (e.g. study designs, risk communication, etc.); and applications (e.g. screening, diseases surveillance, and outbreak investigations). Students will also learn the application of epidemiological methods to nutritional, infectious disease, and chronic disease epidemiology.

There has been a groundswell of interest in global health across multiple disciplines and students have been participating in many kinds of health-related field work. Some students find that they are unprepared for the challenges they face in the field. In addition, there has been a tendency to focus on student learning at the expense of host community needs, resulting in the exacerbation of inequalities and the increased potential for harm to that community. However, experiential learning can be designed such that it brings value to both the host community and the student. This course will provide preliminary preparation for strategically and ethically carrying out health-related fieldwork. Students will be introduced to tools for enabling meaningful fieldwork experiences that increase their understanding of global health problems and recognition of contextual challenges, strengths, and priorities.

This course is designed to introduce students to a wide range of health issues affecting women globally, with particular emphasis on Africa, Asia, and the United States. The topics will focus on a woman's life, from infancy and childhood, through adolescence and reproductive years, to old age. We will examine the physiological, social, psychological, economic, cultural, political, behavioral, and environmental factors that influence women's health, and the role of poverty, discrimination, and unequal health access. Topics such as determinants of women's health, reproductive health, sexual health, cardiovascular health, maternal health, cancers of the reproductive tract, mental and emotional health, substance use and abuse, and various forms of violence against women will be discussed. At the end of the course, students should have a solid grasp of key issues affecting the health of women in different cultural contexts globally, and how women can be empowered to take actions that positively influence their health.

In many societies around the world, culture plays a major role in health and wellbeing. This course will provide a global overview of how society and culture influence the health and wellbeing of people, with discussions on strategies for health promotion and awareness that are sensitive to cultural settings. Focusing mostly on developing countries, we will examine the ways in which different aspects of culture, such as gender and social norms, values and belief systems, and religion influence health, with particular emphasis on physical health, mental & emotional health, and sexual & reproductive health.

Women's health is a multidimensional paradigm. The purpose of this course is to provide a global perspective on selected topics in women's health. Women's health conditions, programs, and services in developed and developing countries will be explored. Global women's health issues will be discussed within context of race, ethnicity, culture, class, and societal roles. The combination of lecture, media viewing, guest-speakers, readings, class discussions, other learning activities, and assignments are anticipated to prompt critical thinking and discovering of topics that will not be covered in this course for the students' future development as scholars, researchers, and global health leaders and advocates.

With an increasing number of complex domestic and international health challenges, the need for clear, effective, and timely health communication has become more apparent. This course will provide an overview of communication concepts and strategies that can shape health practices and promote public health goals. Students will become familiar with theories, communication channels, and some factors to consider in the design and analysis of persuasive health communication materials.

U.S. government (USG) global health efforts aim to help improve the health of people in low- and middle-income countries while also contributing to broader U.S. global development goals, foreign policy priorities, and national security concerns including safeguarding the health of Americans. The U.S. role in global health is multifaceted and includes a broad range of activities. Its primary roles are as a supporter of bilateral efforts, directly funding implementation of global health efforts in partner countries, and as a donor to multilateral health institutions The U.S. also engages in global health diplomacy through its relationships with other governments, multilateral institutions, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector. Key principles of global health include: an emphasis on addressing inequities in health status within and between countries and a recognition that the health of people around the world is highly interconnected.

Global health is an area of study, research and practice that focuses on achieving equity in health for all people worldwide. The health status of individuals and populations arise from a myriad of complex biological, social, economic, political, and environmental factors that operate synergistically. Through a social justice lens, we will examine how these factors shape health outcomes and how interventions must be developed that include addressing the root causes of inequity. We will use a case-based approach, focusing on specific health problems in several countries, including the United States. Cases will include a variety of themes including health disparities arising from stress-associated racial discrimination, the epidemiological transition from infectious to non-communicable diseases, and how the health effects of climate change disproportionately affect the most vulnerable.

In an increasingly globalized world, where disease outbreaks cross borders and seas, there is a need for today's global health experts to have an understanding of international law, human rights and gender in global health. Health crises such as Ebola, HIV/AIDS and cholera have demonstrated the increasing interaction between the law and global health, and the need to ensure that the rights of individuals are not violated on the basis of public health concerns. The course is designed to allow students to gain a basic understanding of how law, human rights and gender interact with global health. It will look at select case studies where students will assess the legal, gender and human rights impacts of disease outbreaks and containment. Students will gain a wider perspective on global health issues as they relate to gender, human rights and law, and be equipped to view health issues through a legal and rights based lens. Through this course students will: (1) Gain a basic understanding of international human rights principles governing global health, and how these are used in global settings such as the UN to protect and promote the right to health. (2) Review select cases that demonstrate how regional courts uphold the right to health of communities and individuals. (3) Discuss HIV criminalization in the USA and global context. (4) A discussion of global health crises and their impact on the human rights of those affected.

What is the relation between life and politics? In the late 18th century, a new technology of governance emerged. This technology, armed with a new science of statistics, focused on the management of life and death within the population–its rates of fertility, mortality, and illness. How could life expectancy be increased? How could rates of mortality be lowered? How could biological threats be eliminated? These questions of life and death were not only biological; life itself had emerged as a political problem. Michel Foucault called this new technology of power biopolitics. Since Foucault's formulation, the concept of biopolitics has demarcated an object of inquiry that has been taken up by scholars in a wide range of academic fields, including anthropology, sociology, literature, philosophy, and history. Through the lens of biopolitics, we will study a number of contemporary issues in which the politics of life and death are at stake, including humanitarianism, new medical technologies, public health interventions, disaster, incarceration, and global pandemics. In class, we will think through these topics together using examples drawn from visual and print media including film, journalism, literature, and photography.

The Global Health Practice Capstone is a required course for all Global Health Minor students and gives students the opportunity to apply knowledge gained through coursework to an area of global health practice. This practice component has three options: Experiential learning: students will spend a minimum of 4 weeks work in a global health setting which may include, community organizations, health departments/agencies, non-governmental, governmental, or international organizations. This may be a supervised internship or summer fellowship (such as those offered by the Institute for Social Concerns). Research: students will collaborate with a faculty member on research project. This could include a research paper on a topic of interest, secondary analysis of an existing data set, work on an existing project, or conducting a literature review on a topic of interest. Literature Review/Development of a Policy Brief: students will choose a topic of interest and a location(s) and prepare a literature review (15 pages) or a policy brief (5 pages).

The Global Health Practice Capstone is a required course for all Global Health Minor students and gives students the opportunity to apply knowledge gained through coursework to an area of global health practice. By the second semester of junior year, students will write a proposal outlining their project, identifying a faculty member to supervise the project. The student and faculty mentor will determine the final deliverable. This practice component has three possible options: 1) Experiential learning/Internship, 2) Research, 3) Mini-thesis/Literature Review/Policy Brief.

This Directed Reading course will guide students through up to date research in HPV, HPV-associated diseases, and HPV vaccination. Students will be able to participate in writing a literature review, grant writing, and research project planning, implementation, and evaluation.

This Directed Reading course will guide students through up to date research in HPV, HPV-associated diseases, and HPV vaccination. Students will be able to participate in writing a literature review, grant writing, and research project planning, implementation, and evaluation.

This directed readings course will complement student summer research experience at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. This research project aims to understand what maternal genetic markers in women with Type I, II or gestational diabetes are associated with infant health outcomes. The student will meet with the instructor weekly throughout the semester to conduct a literature review and discuss issues related to the research project.

Research in collaboration with members of the faculty. Evaluation of performance will be accomplished through regular discussions with the faculty members in charge of the course. Enrollment must be completed before the end of the first week each semester. Five to fifteen hours each week, which may be arranged individually per agreement with faculty members. Students may register for one to two credits per semester. Offered all semesters.