PBH 395 - Special Topics

Fall 2021

Public Health and Film

The course will explore the history of and contemporary public health, using film to grapple with questions including: why do we pay attention to some public health problems and not others? From whose perspectives are the stories of public health told? How do those representations affect public perceptions and public health practice and policy? The course will require students to engage with public health and documentary ethics as well as critical analysis of how they and others produce and evaluate information about public health. Public health issues addressed will include epidemics, climate change, noncommunicable diseases and others.

Spring 2022

Section A: Public Health Ethics

Those engaged in public health -­whether as professionals or persons and communities affected by public health problems -will encounter challenging ethical issues. Beginning with that premise, this course will address ethical issues in public health practice, research, and policy, providing conceptual frameworks and practical tools. It will grapple with challenging questions about the use of limited resources, restrictive public health measures like quarantine, vulnerable and marginalized persons, health disparities, and globalization. The course will focus on a range of issues affecting public health, including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, COVID-19, climate change, migration, malnutrition, and others, often drawn from case studies based on real-world public health practice.

Section B: Water and Health

Access to clean water is essential to human health. Yet, millions of persons globally lack access to clean water. Water insecurity is increasing as a result of climate change. From the impact of diarrheal diseases on young children to increasing water-related migration and conflict, this course explores the biological, sociocultural, and political dimensions of water and human health. It examines a range of topics including global approaches to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and several key case studies including the Flint water crisis, the reintroduction of cholera into Haiti, plumbing poverty in the United States, and the Clean India campaign.

Prerequisites & Notes
The course is designed for students with prior exposure to public health issues and concepts. Enrollment in the course requires taking one or more of the following as a prerequisite, or obtaining the permission of the course instructor: Introduction to Public Health; Health Disparities in the US and Beyond; Introduction to Epidemiology; Genes, Environment and Health.

HHV 395 is repeatable for credit.