Religion, Global Health, and Human Rights

Catalog description

Global Health is an interdisciplinary field concerned with improving health and achieving equity in health for all people, worldwide, focusing on transnational health issues, identifying determinants, and proposing solutions. This course examines issues in global health and human rights and considers the contributions religious ethics may make in analyzing and evaluating such issues. In the first half of the course, we will familiarize ourselves with theoretical issues including what a human right is, whether there's a human right to health, what socially determines health, and how religion relates to global health. In the second half the course, we will turn to practical issues in global health: women, maternal, and reproductive health; neonatal and pediatric health; access to medication and the right to health; emergency relief and humanitarian aid; and access to freshwater. We will conclude by considering the future of global health. Over the course of the semester, we will also become familiar with religious ethics and the relationship among religious ethics, global health, and human rights. In doing so, students will learn about the foundations for religion, global health, and human rights as they intersect with care for individuals and communities in our interconnected and globalized world. Offered as RLGN 326 , RLGN 426 , PHIL 326 and PHIL 426 . Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.