Health Sciences

This course introduces the general knowledge of emergency rescue and the current pre-hospital first aid and emergency medical system to understand the current status of emergency medical care and master some of the common medical skills of Chinese and Western medicine in daily life. This course includes the current status of domestic emergency rescue and the basic concepts and theories of emergency rescue, on-site emergency medicine (cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Heimlich first aid and trauma emergency dressing, etc.), Chinese medicine emergency (stiff neck, sprain, fever and headache etc.), simple introduction of Chinese herbal medicine knowledge, introduction of various first-aid knowledge in life, learning and application of techniques such as hemostasis and bandages, disaster escape and self-help.

This course has been designed to introduce English-speaking students to social health, public health, and primary health care emphasizing particular characteristics of the Caribbean region, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. The course follows an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to individual and community health by means of social and medical science concepts that allow for critical and logical analysis of health determinants and their impact on people's health, health system's organization and functions, and the health-illness scheme that contextualizes health based on cultural characteristics.

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.