Global Health Case Studies from a Biosocial Perspective
Reimagine global health problems thorugh a biosocial framework.
In this online course taught by Harvard faculty, reimagine global health problems with some of the leading global health thinkers and actors through a case-based biosocial framework.
8-10 hours per week
What You'll Learn
This introductory global health course aims to frame global health's collection of problems and actions within a particular biosocial perspective. It develops a toolkit of interdisciplinary analytical approaches and uses them to examine historical and contemporary global health initiatives with careful attention to a critical sociology of knowledge. Four physician-anthropologists - Paul Farmer, Arthur Kleinman, Anne Becker, and Salmaan Keshavjee - draw on experience working in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Americas to investigate what the field of global health comprises, how global health problems are defined and constructed, and how global health interventions play out in both expected and unexpected ways.
The course seeks to inspire and teach the following principles:
A global awareness. This course aims to enable learners to recognize the role of distinctive traditions, governments, and histories in shaping health and well being. In addition, rather than framing a faceless mass of poor populations as the subject of global health initiatives, the course uses ethnographies and case studies to situate global health problems in relation to the lives of individuals, families, and communities.
A foundation in social and historical analysis. The course demonstrates the value of social theory and historical analysis in understanding health and illness at individual and societal levels.
An ethical engagement. Throughout the course, learners will be asked to critically evaluate the ethical frameworks that have underpinned historical and contemporary engagement in global health. Learners will be pushed to consider the moral questions of inequality and suffering as well as to critically evaluate various ethical frameworks that motivate and structure attempts to redress these inequities.
A sense of inspiration and possibility. While the overwhelming challenges of global health could all too easily engender cynicism, passivity, and helplessness, learners will observe that no matter how complex the field of global health and no matter how steep the challenges, it is possible to design, implement, and foster programs and policies that make enormous positive change in the lives of the world’s poorest and suffering people.
The course will be delivered via edX. By the end of the course, participants will learn:
- How to frame a global health problem with a biosocial perspective
- How to use a toolkit of analytical approaches to examine global health initiatives so as to identify and implement effective interventions
- How to evaluate the ethical frameworks that have underpinned engagement within global health
Your Instructors
Paul Farmer
Kolokotrones University Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Anne E. Becker
Maude and Lillian Presley Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Arthur Kleinman
Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor, Anthropology Department; Victor and William Fung Director, Asia Center, Harvard University; Professor of Medical Anthropology, Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Salmaan Keshavjee
Associate Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard University; Director, Harvard Medical School Center for Global Health Delivery – Dubai
Ways to take this course
When you enroll in this course, you will have the option of pursuing a Verified Certificate or Auditing the Course.
A Verified Certificate costs $225 and provides unlimited access to full course materials, activities, tests, and forums. At the end of the course, learners who earn a passing grade can receive a certificate.
Alternatively, learners can Audit the course for free and have access to select course material, activities, tests, and forums. Please note that this track does not offer a certificate for learners who earn a passing grade.