Course Coordinator: Dr Mohammad Afzal Mahmood
Phone: +61 8313 3586
Email: afzal.mahmood@adelaide.edu.au
Location: Level 9, AHMS Building

Each day the contact hours will be from 9-5 with a one-hour lunch break.

1	Define the major contemporary international public health and health system issues
2	Discuss factors that contribute to poor health internationally
3	Describe salient features of some of the health care systems across the world
4	Discuss the facilitating and inhibiting factors for implementation of public health programs internationally
5	Analyse the factors influencing access to care, equity and quality of care
6	Critique developmental, public health and health systems related actions that are being taken to address the contemporary public health and health system issues.

An electronic copy of the International Health Course Handbook is provided to all students at the start of the course. A pdf version is made available on MyUni before the course starts. The Handbook lists the journal articles and other resources for each topic. 

The following provide useful readings on various important health issues affecting populations in developed and developing countries, and describe the health systems and their components in necessary detail.


WHO, OECD, The World Bank. Delivering Quality Health Services: A global imperative  (Review Chapter 1, 3, 4).

European Observatory on Health Systems and Policy. Achieving Person Centred Health Systems. Evidence, Strategies and Challenges. Ed. Nolte E, Merkur S, Anell A.2020. Cambridge University Press.  (Chapter 1, 4, 5)

World Health Organization. (‎2010)‎. The world health report: health systems financing: the path to universal coverage. World Health Organization. Executive Summary.

Marmot M. 2006. Health in an unequal world. The Lancet. 368:2081-2094.

Donabedian A. The quality of care. How can it be assessed? Journal of the American Medical Association. 1988;260(12):1743–1748.

Eckermann L. Challenges for health promotion research and action across the globe. Health Promotion International. 2011; 26(4):393-396

Assignments and end of examination related information is available on MyUni. The students are encouraged to use MyUni discussion board. The links to online resources including relevant videos on YouTube are provided as part of the reading list within the Course Handbook.

The course lectures provide factual information, introduce public health concepts and provide an opportunity to the class for discussing the concepts in an interactive lecture setting. Seminar(s), online or face to face, by specialist in the field of public health and health system development, are used to discuss access, equity, quality concepts by discussing a particular health issue. Lectures and seminars are supported by interactive tutorials where small groups of students review, to anchor learning about the public health and health system concepts, case studies from across various countries. Case Studies provide opportunities to use a problem-oriented approach to identify and discuss the key concepts. Assignments provide an opportunity to undertake in depth analysis of some key concepts of the course.

International Health is a three full days and four half days intensive course. It is estimated that about 140 hours of study are required to fully comprehend the concepts introduced through lectures and case studies, and to complete the assignment and prepare for the end of semester examination. Lectures, tutorial, project work 32 hrs, pre-course readings for lectures 10 hours, preparation for tutorials 8 hrs, readings during the one week intensive 15 hours, presentation 6 hr, summation tests 4 hours, essay 60 hours.

This course is a one week intensive covering the following topics:

FORMAT	TOPIC
Lecture	Introduction to the course, objectives, assignments
Lecture	International health context current issues
Lecture	Current international health issues
Tutorial	Tutorial / Case Study
Lecture	Health System of the World - Organisation
Tutorial & Case Studies	Health System of the World - Organisation Case Studies
Lecture	Global Communicable Disease Burden
Lecture	Communicable Disaeases: Determinants
Tutorial	Communicable disease determinants
Lecture	Communicable disease prevention
Lecture	Non-Communicable disease burden
Case Studies	Organisation, Access, Equity, Quality
Lecture	Non-communicable disease determinant
Lecture	Cultural Context of Health Care, Traditional and Alternative Healthcare
Tutorial	Health Promotion / Case Studies
Lecture	Health System of the World - Acces & Equity
Seminar	Rural/Aboriginal Health Services
Case Studies	Organisation, Access, Equity, Quality
Lecture	Health systems of the world: Quality
Lecture	Health systems of the world: Finance
Tutorial	Health systems of the world
Lecture & Discussion	Maternal Health: Scope, Significance, Factors Influencing mother's helath, Programs
Seminar	Neglected Public Health Issues
Lecture	Health Care in Urban and Rural Areas
Lecture	Role of UN, NGOs and CBOs
Review Lecture	Review of the course content

None.

Assessment Task	Assessment Type	Weighting	Learning Outcome(s) being addressed
Participation	Formative/Summative	10%	2, 3, 5
Case studies Review	Summative	10%	2, 3, 5
Quiz 1	Summative	15%	2-6
Quiz 2	Summative	15%	2-6
Report on Health system organsation, health service provision and public health interventions for one particular health issue affecting a selected country/community	Summative	20%	1-6
Essay (critique of healthcare and public health programs)	Summative	30%	1-6

None.

Participation (10%): Participation includes attendance at tutorials and case study discussions for each individual student.

Case Studies Review (10% marks): Group assignment, a short written report of about 1000 words highlighting the access, equity, quality of care situation and the factors affectign that access, equity and quaity as reflected in three selected case studies. 

Online Quizzes (15% each): Students will be required to complete two online quizzzes (multiple choice, and short answer questions). The questions will test knowledge about the principles and concepts of international health, including the principles of  prevention and health promotion within the national/international development and health system context, epidemic control, factors affecting access to case, sustainability and health financing.

Report on Health Services & Public Health Programs  (20% marks): A short report of abut 1000 words, on health services organisation and public health interventions in a particular country/community for a particular public health issues.

Essay (30% marks): Critique of about 2000 words, including a discussion (about 500 words) of the chosen priority health issue in terms of access, equity and quality of care concerns, and a critique (about 1500 words) of the health system and public  health programs in that country/community aimed at addressing that public health issue. The chosen country/community and the priority health issue are to be the same as in the Report on Health Services & Public Health Interventions.

Extensions
All extensions for assignments must be requested, at the latest, by the last working day before the due date of submission.  Extensions will generally be granted only on medical or genuine compassionate grounds. Supporting documentation must be  provided at the time a student requests an extension. Without documentation, extensions will not be granted. Late requests for extension will neither be accepted nor acknowledged.

Only the Course Co-ordinator(s) may grant extensions.

Supporting documentation will be required when requesting an extension. Examples of documents that are acceptable include: a  medical certificate that specifies dates of incapacity, a police report (in the case of lost computers, car & household theft etc.), a  letter from a Student Counsellor, Education and Welfare Officer (EWO) or Disability Liaison Officer that provides an assessment of  compassionate circumstances, or a letter from an independent external counsellor or appropriate professional able to verify the  student’s situation. The length of any extension granted will take into account the period and severity of any incapacity or impact  on the student. Extensions of more than 10 days will not be granted except in exceptional circumstances.

Late submission
Marks will be deducted when assignments for which no extension has been granted are handed in late.

All assignments, including those handed in late, will be assessed on their merits. In the case of late assignments where no  extension has been granted, 5 percentage points of the total marks possible per day will be deducted.  If an assignment that is 2  days late is awarded 65% on its merits, the mark will then be reduced by 10% (5% per day for 2 days) to 55%. If that same assignment is 4 days late, the mark will be reduced by 20% (5% per day for 4 days) to 45%, and so on.

The School of Public Health reserves the right to refuse to accept an assignment that is more than 7 days late.

Assignments submitted after the due date may not be graded in time to be returned on the listed return dates.

Students submitting examinable written work who request (and receive) an extension that takes them beyond the examination period are advised that there is no guarantee that their grades will be processed in time to meet usual University deadlines.

Resubmission
If a student is dissatisfied with an assessment grade they should follow the Student Grievance Resolution Process  <https://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/grievance/process/>. Students who are not satisfied with a particular assessment result should raise their concerns with Course Co-ordinator(s) in the first instance. This must be done within 10 business days of the date of notification of the result. Resubmission of any assignment is subject to the agreement of the Course Co-ordinator(s) and  ill only be permitted for the most compelling of reasons.

Considering student feedback, the course organisation was changed to each tutorial focussing on particular questions associated with the case studies. The student groups review a set of cases studies and write a 2-page summary of factors, as reflected in those case studies. The students appreciate the intensive nature of the course and that it could be completed over 5 days  and appreciate the case studies' contribution to learning. Considering student feedback, the number of case studies was reduced. The session on organisation and funding of health systems now includes further information on healthcare organisation within the context of free market principles. The number of students in each small group has also been reduced.