How can you learn more about global public health? Picture by Shutterstock/ Imageflow
Since the COVID-19 epidemic has raised awareness for global public health in general and pandemic outbreaks in particular, many, especially young people of my generation, might want to learn more about this field. I wanted to share and review one of the first online courses in public health I completed, which provided a perfect introduction to the topic for me.
The HarvardX course “Readings in Global Health”, accessible through edX, sparked both my interest and gave me essential questions to consider. For example, some major questions this course raises and attempts to answer through readings, lessons, and interviews, were questions such as “How do health professionals predict disease occurrence?” and “During a pandemic, how do experts determine what measures to implement?”.
This introductory course requires between 3 to 6 hours of time per week for 10 weeks and includes exams for each section, as well as a certificate of completion. It is based on a series of reviews strung together in a book called Readings in Global Health, by David J. Hunter. These reviews have all been published in the New England Journal of Medicine and serve as essential foundations upon which the course is established.
This course not only presents critical information and discussions with public health experts, it also challenges one to think about and attempt to find solutions for larger health issues on a global scale. It provides a thorough foundation and background to important figures, events, and public health strategies, something that is crucial for anyone interested in this fascinating, and often complex, field.
If you are interested, please check out the link below:
https://www.edx.org/course/readings-in-global-health-2017#!
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