Health Sciences

This public health oriented course addresses how the environmental and occupational (work-related) factors affect human health and what can be done to prevent or minimize the negative impacts. Whereas environmental science tends to address how human beings affect the environment, this course focuses on how the environment affects human health. Topics include an introduction to the toxicology and environmental epidemiology methods in assessing the impact of environmental exposures on human health; how the physical, chemical or biological agents in the air, water, soil and food affect human health; the evaluation and control of common hazards in the work place; and the impacts of global environmental changes on health. Assessment: course project (30%), final exam (70%).

Global Health is a field of study, research and practice that recognizes that the project of reducing disease, safeguarding well being and providing adequate health care is shaped by factors that transcend national boundaries and which are thus beyond the capacity of individual nation states to address individually or through their domestic institutions. This course introduces students to the key concepts and debates in global health, and uses case studies to illuminate these inequalities and the political, economic, social and structural forces that perpetuate them. In this course we examine the concept of global health, analyze the different actors and agencies involved in the global health movement, examine the ways in which global health inequalities are measured and mapped, and focus in detail on the social and economic determinants of health inequalities and the ways in which these are linked to social development and ‘epidemiological transitions’ in the nature and burden of disease in different societies.

This course compares the National Health Service in the United Kingdom and the health system in the United States of America. The course explores differences in the way health systems are funded, delivered, and conceptualized. The course draws commonalities between the National Health Service and the United States health systems and explores their differences. The course examines recent health policy developments and a variety of theoretical critiques.

The delicate art of eating has many implications for sustainability. Food production and consumption affect the climate, the natural environment, and the landscape. Food also affects the sustainability of societies and individuals. Both bodily functions and length of life are partly determined by how, what, where, and when we eat. The course gives a broad introduction to the study of food and eating concerning sustainability. The course has an interdisciplinary approach, combining cultural, nutritional, and geographical perspectives. Local field studies are combined with a global outlook, based on literature studies.

This is a graduate level course that is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course offers an overview of: how health economics theory and methods can be applied to understand the challenges facing health systems in low and middle income countries; the patterns and key issues of health systems and policies in developing countries, with an emphasis on critical assessment of current and future policy options. By the end of the course students are expected to be able to: appreciate the relevance of applying health economics methods in low and middle-income countries; assess alternative methods of raising revenue to fund health systems in low and middle-income countries; assess equity of access to health services and how health system can identify and respond to health inequities; assess policy options to improve health systems performance in low and middle-income countries; adopt a systematic view of health and health systems in developing countries, and develop independent thinking on future perspective regarding health sector reforms. Topics covered: the outlook of LMICs and overview of their health systems; assessing the performance of health systems in LMICs; identify key areas of debate that remain unresolved; the relationship between health and development: how much does disease depress development in human capital and income around the world?; effects of childhood health on adult income; effects of adult health on adult productivity; reverse causality; macroeconomic implications; health behavior and demand of health in LMICs; health disparities and policy interventions; access to Health Care in LMICs: supply side; the role of governments and budget allocations; international organizations; the quality of medical care as a function of competences and practices of providers; policy interventions; parental inputs, parental time, transmission, and children's health.

This course offers students an overview of the psychological, pharmacological, neurobiological, and neurophysiological bases of drug use, abuse, and contemporary understanding of addiction (and some mental conditions), and has a strong natural science (neuroscience) orientation. The acute and long-term effects of selected drugs of abuse on behavior, mood, cognition, and neuronal function are discussed using empirical findings and theoretical developments from both human and non-human subject studies on the neurobiological and psychological basis of drug action and addiction.

This version of the European Public Health in a Globalizing World course includes an Independent Study Project (ISP) done under the direction of the instructor. The ISP is 10-12 pages and counts for 1/3 of the overall grade for the course. The course provides an overview of modern health challenges in Europe and how they are shaped by a variety of themes within stakeholders in policy, research, and practice. Such themes include developing a unified system of population health monitoring across sovereign countries; coping with population aging and rising healthcare expenditures; managing commercial and social determinants of health; supporting cross-border collaboration between national health systems; fostering learning and the exchange of expertise in social and health policy; and identifying a global role for European Public Health. The current course combines theory with practice through lectures, tutorials, and a masterclass. Lectures introduce the content and initiate discussions on topics covered by the course. In addition, the course makes use of problem-based learning (PBL), a prominent learning method widely used at Maastricht University, in which students actively engage in their own learning. Finally, the course includes an exchange of views in the form of a masterclass with a senior expert in European health policy. To facilitate a fruitful learning environment a moderate level of health-related knowledge is required. Hence, the course is directed toward students attending bachelor or master's courses in medicine, public health science, sociology, anthropology, political science, or economics.

This course explores the field of anthropology from the perspective of health systems in diverse sociocultural contexts (global North and global South, indigenous and non-indigenous societies, etc.). The first part of the course focuses on mental health, concepts of normalcy and pathology from a transcultural perspective, representations of madness, and the social and medical institutions that objectify them. The second part of the course examines the notion of the person, how the body is conceived of culturally and physically, how it ages and how it dies. The course also considers other topics such as feminist anthropological critiques of sexuality and gender, the anthropology of transmissible diseases, profound trauma, and questions of morality and culture in biomedicine and medical technology.

This course introduces students to the concept of community health and primary health care as it is delivered in Ghana.  The course provides students an opportunities to learn about diseases of public health importance and selected endemic diseases specific to Ghana as well as their epidemiology and control in Ghana.  The course looks at the emerging non-communicable diseases in Ghana such as HIV/AIDS, hypertension, and breast and cervical cancers.  Students have first-hand learning opportunities on the psychosocial and social aspects of living with HIV, class discussions, and assigned readings with presentations. Students examine the importance of sexual reproductive health with a special emphasis on the needs of adolescents. Students learn the causes, symptoms, and treatment of hypertension and examine sanitation and food security as keys to community health.