By successfully and actively participating, you will acquire knowledge and skills to develop and expand your capacity to understand and critically assess issues related to international community health from global to local level. We focus both on providing familiarity with essential knowledge, research methods and on placing this into a broader context of how the communities we study are embedded in societies.
Programme Learning Outcomes from 2020
After completing the programme, the students shall be familiar with the concepts of, and knowledge related to, the global distribution of illness and access to health care services, and be able to critically analyse international health burdens, policies and initiatives. The students’ competencies are acquired through emphasising on multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral approaches and bringing together the understanding of a wide range of players in improving community health. The students will also have acquired and demonstrated the skills necessary to plan and conduct a research project of relevance to international community health and global health.
Knowledge
After completing the programme, you will be able to
- explain the essential concepts of international community health and global health
- describe the magnitudes and distribution of major global health challenges, including non-communicable diseases, nutrition deficiencies, infectious diseases and reproductive, maternal and child health challenges, and their cultural, social, economic and environmental context
- classify the major actors committed to international and global health work, including government agencies, civil society organisations, multilateral institutions, philanthropic organisations and public-private partnerships
- describe the use of quantitative and qualitative research methods in generating evidence to address international and global health challenges
- illustrate the use of research ethics, general ethical guidelines, and describe ethical challenges in different context, cultures and environments
Skills
You will be able to
- evaluate the structure of health systems and their functions in achieving global health agendas such as sustainable development goals or universal health coverage
- critically evaluate the global distribution of illness and the determinants of health as well as the extent and determinants of access to health care services
- discuss the role of medicine and drugs development in international community health
- evaluate theoretical concepts of importance in international community health and global health
- critically discuss and evaluate global health policies, agendas and initiatives relevant to international community health and global health
- conceptualise, develop, design and complete an independent, scientific and ethically sound original research project of relevance in international community health
- conduct a literature review and critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of international health research literature
- conduct fieldwork and collect primary data, using either qualitative or quantitative methodologies
- analyse and interpret collected data using appropriate qualitative or quantitative approaches to address the intended research questions
- effectively communicate research findings and facilitate dissemination of research in written and in spoken language through professional and popular channels
Competences
You will be able to
- apply acquired skills to actively participate in and contribute to discussions with people from a wide variety of interests, academic and national backgrounds
- maintain ethical standards (confidentiality, informed consent, conflicts of interest) in research and practice in international community health
- effectively communicate information of importance to international community health to relevant stakeholders
- gain skills required to pursue a professional career in academia, government agencies, civil society organisations and international organisations.
Programme Learning Outcomes before 2019
You will learn to plan and ethically conduct a relevant international community health research and interventions. This entails both the use of specialized research tools and to communicate your expertise as a contribution to improve health at local, national or international levels.
Knowledge
You will
- gain insight into essential concepts of community health
- have familiarity with the employed quantitative and qualitative methodology
- understand the entwined nature of human and microbial ecology
- acquire knowledge on the impact of non-communicable diseases
- learn about specific relevance of reproductive health
- have acquired knowledge on community nutrition in its importance for a community’s health
- learn about aging and disability as community health challenges
- understand the fundamentals of child health
- learn about hiv/aids and understand the challenge that it poses to community health
- gain insight on how community health figures in today’s global society
- further deepen your studies by choosing elective subjects such as research ethics, intervention epidemiology, anthropology, communication in community health, studying health information systems or the interrelates topics of sexual and reproductive health
Skills
Working in the program shall give you the ability to
- search for relevant literature and to perform a critical review of it
- develop a research protocol for your project
- handle statistical methods of your field
- analyze the subject of your study with epidemiological methods
- creatively use qualitative methodology in pursuit of your research
- discuss and develop research methodology in relation to community health research
- provide for its realization by gaining consent from the relevant ethical committees
- perform filed work in a community health research project
- complete an Mphil thesis on your research project
Competences
As our student you are supposed to
- participate in and contribute to a classroom discussions that brings together students from a wide variety of backgrounds, interests and countries.
- be able to critically evaluate and creatively use important theoretical concepts
- improve your academic presentation skills, facilitating dissemination of your work in written and in spoken language to specialist and lay audiences
- reflect critical on your own and the research of others
- be able to participate in academic debates of your field
- contribute to your fields knowledge and methods through your work
- acquire skills and networks that you can use in your further career