Welcome to Introduction to International Health. This course—designed to be the first course for international health students—provides an overview of current issues in international public health with particular emphasis on low- and middle-income countries. Students can follow this course with more in-depth courses in core areas of international health, including structural adjustment and health care reform; organization and management of health systems; community health and primary health care; humanitarian assistance and refugee health; international nutrition; vaccine development and policy; disease prevention and control; and social and behavioral interventions.

The course is composed of two modules:

Module 1: Describing the Health Priorities of a Country
This module introduces the tools and concepts necessary to complete Assignment One, including demographic transition, epidemiologic transition, and levels of causality. This module takes a life cycle approach to health and nutrition and examines the specific problems that affect mothers, newborns, infants and children, school-age children and adolescents, and adults and the elderly. During this module you will select a country that will be the subject of Assignments One and Two. You will complete a series of tables to describe the social, economic, and health conditions in your country and start to answer the questions for Assignment One.

Module 2: Selecting Interventions and Partners
This module presents the tools and concepts necessary to complete Assignment Two, including prioritization of health problems, multilateral and bilateral organizations, and indicators for measuring the process and outcomes of health programs. You will complete tables to characterize the health problem that will be your focus for Assignment Two and identify its key determinants and key stakeholders. Finally, in this module you will take a critical look at the role of foreign aid in health and learn the importance of taking history into account when designing new health initiatives.

We hope you enjoy the course. If you have any questions, please contact the appropriate person listed in the "Help" section of the course syllabus, which you will see after clicking the "About the Course" tab in the upper-right corner of this page.

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