Politics of Global Health and Medicine

Catalog description

The course addresses the question of how social and political factors, such as race, nationality, or social class, as well as governmental laws, regulations, and politics shape and are shaped by individual and population health and well-being around the world. Among other questions, students discuss the impact of structural violence of social inequalities on human suffering and on the access to health care and medical care, including access to medications. The ethicality of medical research is also included in that discussion. Assigned readings and discussions address 1) the determinants of disease and health inequalities between populations and over time; 2) how social and political factors influence medical knowledge, health care, and medical care; and 3) what must be done to combat and prevent health inequalities in local, national, and global contexts.