Provides an overview of the complex and challenging public health issue of food security (sufficient, safe and nutritious food for all) in a world where one billion people are under-nourished while another billion are overweight. Explores the connections among diet, the current food and food animal production system, the environment and public health, considering factors such as economics, population and equity. Focuses on the U.S. experience, but also uses case studies in the U.S. and internationally to illustrate the issues discussed. Considers alternative approaches to achieving both local and global food security. Explores the important role public health professionals can play. Guest lecturers include experts from a variety of disciplines and experiences.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Define the concepts of food security and describe how food systems relate to public health
• Describe how diet, food production, the environment, equity, population and resources inter-relate to impact each other and ultimately human health
• Describe factors that have helped shape the current food system
• Identify three to five opportunities and challenges to encourage dietary behavior change, support sustainable agriculture, improve food security and lessen the environmental and public health impact of food production and consumption

Lectures: Students are expected to listen to all lectures during the course.  Most lectures are audio with powerpoint and both are important. A few lectures are just audio and/or video. We strongly encourage you to take advantage of the downloadable MP3 audio files available for each lecture. Please see more details under “Resource Materials.”

Lectures are presented in seven modules.  Each module builds on lectures and readings from previous modules.

PART 1 - KEY CONCEPTS

• Module 1 - An Introduction to the Food System: Diet, Food Production, the Environment and Public Health
• Module 2 - Historical and Ecological Overview of Agriculture and Food Production
• Module 3 - Culture, Diet and Policy as Determinants of the Food System

PART 2 - INDUSTRIAL FOOD ANIMAL PRODUCTION (IFAP)

• Module 4 - IFAP and Public Health
• Module 5 - IFAP: Economics, Occupational Health and Rural Communities

PART 3 - IMPROVING THE CURRENT FOOD SYSTEM

• Module 6 - Sustainable Food Systems
• Module 7 - Opportunities for Public Health

It is important to keep pace with the lectures and readings in order to take full advantage of BBS and Livetalk discussions with faculty and your colleagues. Quizzes throughout the course are designed to encourage you to follow the schedule.

Reading:  Required readings and additional resources relating to each lecture are available via e-Reserves and course Web links. Required readings often address issues that are not covered in lectures.  Supplemental readings reinforce material addressed in lectures and/or provide additional information on concepts peripheral to the course.

BBS:  Interaction on the BBS is an essential component of this course. The BBS is designed to follow the course modules and will explore core course concepts, key readings and current events related to issues discussed in the course.  Students should expect to spend at least two hours per week reading BBS posts and responding thoughtfully with original ideas and questions.

LiveTalks:  Another essential component of the course, Livetalks enhance learning by expanding on core course concepts and exploring topics not thoroughly covered in lectures. Students are expected to attend most Livetalks or, when necessary, listen to Livetalk archives. Agendas will be sent to students prior to each session.  In general, Livetalks consist of one hour of discussion led by faculty on a given topic, reading or issue followed by an optional 30 minutes of Q&A with students.

Quizzes: You will need to take four short online quizzes.

Assignments: This course requires two short written assignments (please submit via the course Drop Box):

• Assignment 1 - Community Assessment: The purpose of this assignment is to help you gain a better understanding of community food systems by investigating elements of the food system in your local community, city or region. Using online resources, phone calls and site visits, you will investigate the availability of different food types in a “community” of your choice. A detailed outline is provided to guide you though the assignment.
• Assignment 2 - Newspaper Opinion Piece/Op-Ed: This is an opportunity to address the public on issues and topics explored during the course. Take one or more of the core concepts from the course (examples provided) and develop a public health advocacy piece in the form of an op-ed to a newspaper of your choice.  Who is your audience? How would you support your arguments? What would be your call to action? In the past, students have had their op-eds published in their home-town newspapers.

Final grades will be based on the following components:

• Assignment 1 - Community Assessment (25%)
• Assignment 2 - Newspaper Op-ed (35%)
• Quizzes [5% each] (20%)
• Participation [lectures, bulletin board (BBS), and LiveTalks] (20%)

NOTE: Final grades will not be based solely on the grades of individual assignments. Other important determinants of grades are: interaction and communication with faculty, TA and other students; a student's improvement during the course; and comparison of individual students with the entire class.

LATE POLICY: All assignments are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (U.S.) on the scheduled due date unless otherwise noted. Completing assignments on time is expected. Late assignments may result in the depreciation of the final grade. If illness or special circumstances impact completing an assignment on time, you are encouraged to contact one of the course instruction team prior to the due date to discuss options.

Students not matriculated into a graduate program at JHSPH must have permission of the instructor to enroll in this course. Please email Polly Walker with a description of your background related to the course topics and your particular interest in taking the course.

Instructors: Bob Lawrence rlawrenc@jhsph.edu Polly Walker pwalker@jhsph.edu Course Coordinator: Pamela Rhubart-Berg prhubart@jhsph.edu Teaching Assistants: Beth Feingold bfeingol@jhsph.edu Meghan Davis mdavis@jhsph.edu Jennifer Hartle jhartle@jhsph.edu

E-Reserves:
Course readings and resources are available online through the E-Reserves system, a service provided by the Welch Library. You are given a link and password on the individual lecture pages within the course.

Lectures:
All lectures in this course are available in three formats: 1) synchronized audio/slide presentations; 2) PDF slide files; and 3) MP3 audio files.

Many students prefer to access the synchronized presentations because of the audio-visual impact. Students also readily print the slides, which are ideal for note-taking. Growing numbers of students are downloading the MP3 audio files, which are highly portable on CDs, iPods, USB flash drives, etc.

We highly encourage you to listen to the MP3s–when you are commuting, running errands, traveling, even at home. Files are usually under 10 MB. Please take advantage of the MP3 alternative method of accessing the course content. Also, please note that lecture materials are copyrighted and are only for your personal use within the course. Copying and/or distributing lecture files, for any other purpose, is not permitted. Thank you for your consideration.