Overview of Course

The health of populations is deeply intertwined with human history and cultural development. This course introduces students to the factors shaping population and public health while exploring strategies to promote health equity and health justice. Students will study patterns of disease, investigate the causes of illness, and identify effective prevention methods. Recognizing that the causes of disease vary globally and across the life span, the course emphasizes the need to design culturally and demographically appropriate interventions that address health at individual, community, and population levels. Students will examine how cultural factors, including psychological, sociological, political, religious, and economic factors, influence health outcomes. Course topics include the history and foundations of public health, demography, epidemiology, and the metrics used to study populations, such as prevalence, incidence, and relative risk. Students will also explore study designs and levels of prevention, addressing critical issues such as mental health, substance abuse, physical activity, communicable disease control, environmental health, and more. By the end of the course, students will have the knowledge and tools to design interventions that promote health justice and address population health challenges in diverse global contexts.