Welcome to Contemporary Issues in Global Health! As the module lead for this module, I’d like to say how much I am looking forward to working with you over the next eleven weeks. I’d also like to introduce my colleague Dr Damilola Oyewole-Omodara who will be co-delivering the module with me.  

This module seeks to ensure that you are familiar with and competent in a number of discourses or narratives of global health, but we also hope that it will foster critical, intellectual curiosity in a range of contemporary global health issues that are currently being addressed by policy makers, international organisations, and public health specialists.  

A key focus of the module is the media, both print and social. The media is an important vehicle for the construction and dissemination of global health discourses, and you will learn how the media can (and do) frame global health issues in particular ways.   

This module will encourage you to explore contemporary global health issues from a range of diverse perspectives and disciplines, including cognitive linguistics, media studies, public health, anthropology, political economy and international relations.  

Your learning in this module will take place through a combination of asynchronous and synchronous delivery. Asynchronous just means work that takes place in your own time and at your own pace. Synchronous, by contrast, will be a scheduled ‘live’ seminar, where you can interact in real time with myself, Dami and your fellow students.  

As with all academic study, global health challenges are evolving against the backdrop of a 21st century phenomenon of ‘fake news’. In an era of uncertainty about ‘facts’, and hostility towards ‘truth’, the ability to marshal appropriate quantitative and qualitative data, and employ critical thinking has never been more important. 

The BSc Global Health program has provided you with a tool kit of skills for identifying and responding to this phenomenon, and the tools in your kit will be sharpened in the weeks ahead.  

We hope you enjoy the module! 

Andrew and Dami.  

Upon completion of this module, you will be able to: 

1: Identify, describe and evaluate contemporary issues in global health; 

2: Critique existing discourses – constructed and disseminated through the media – that ‘frame’ contemporary issues in global health;  

3: Undertake research on a specific contemporary global health issue; 

4: Consolidate your critical, analytical skills by fact-checking global health media stories;  

4: Apply knowledge to develop and deliver a professional presentation; 

5: Synthesize complex information and present via social media for a non-specialist audience; 

6: Demonstrate critical analytical skills from a range of relevant social, cultural and disciplinary perspectives; 

7: Demonstrate knowledge of a number of topical and developing issues in global health; 

8: Distinguish ‘wicked’ from ‘tame’ global health challenges, and design appropriate policy responses to those challenges. 

Learning 

This module will be delivered online through the provision of readings, podcasts and videos (asynchronous learning) and a face-to-face element – the webinar (synchronous learning) scheduled via Blackboard. All relevant readings and additional materials will be available on QM+ in advance of the seminar. You are expected to have worked through the week’s learning materials before attending the webinar. The webinars will be recorded. 

Webinars 

The webinar is an opportunity for synchronous learning – ie learning in real time with staff and your fellow students. The webinar will be scheduled for 90 minutes. This will allow time at the beginning for everyone to join, say hello and settle. It will also allow a degree of flexibility in terms of time allocated for discussion. We can’t predict which issues will generate a lot of discussion. While we hope there will be lively discussion and debate, if the webinar comes to a natural end after 60 or 70 minutes, then we won’t insist on continuing for the full 90 minutes.  

A typical structure to each webinar will be: 

The purpose of the webinar is to provide an opportunity for you to discuss issues that arise from the week’s materials, and to answer your questions or queries that you may have about the module, including around assessments. It is important to emphasise that the webinar will NOT be a time to re-present information for anyone who wasn’t able to engage with the materials during the week.  

With that in mind, please come to this week’s webinar ready to discuss the readings and materials you have been working on during the week. 

Readings

Where possible all readings are hyperlinked. Where that isn't possible, or if access is restricted, a pdf is provided in the Readings folder at the very bottom of the module QM+ page. Just scroll down and you'll see it.

Assessment

There are three assessments for this module: a blogpost (due in week 5), a fact check (due in week 9) and a group presentation. These assessments are described in the Assessment Handbook at the bottom of the page - just scroll down.