Women's Public Health

Catalog description

This course aims to cover local and global issues as they pertain to women. Many major issues of global health concern will be addressed, including the health-demoting effects of poverty, racism, patriarchy, and inhumane conditions of life and labor in many countries; men's and women's sexuality in the era of HIV/AIDS; the politics of epidemic disease control and other disasters, and the role of communities, nation-states, and international organizations in responding to such crises; issues of coercion in population control and the quest for reproductive rights; and how child health is ultimately dependent on the health and well-being of mothers. The underlying purpose of the course is to develop students' awareness of the political, socioeconomic, ecological, and cultural complexity of most health problems in resource-constrained and resource-rich nations and the consequent need for cultural sensitivity, contextualization, and activist involvement in the field of global health.