Global Health

Description

The mission of the Global Health Minor is to educate Wabash students in global health from a liberal arts perspective.  Students will be challenged to understand the burden of disease in society, examine the history of public health, acquire the basic tools to evaluate health in communities, consider health in the context of human rights, and assess the influence of culture on human health. The minor is an interdivisional program that brings together courses addressing the economic, social, biological, and ethical issues surrounding the health of communities, particularly those in low-resource regions.  The minor is designed to engage students from across the College including those interested in medicine, policy, economics and other social sciences, humanities and culture.

Learning Goals & Objectives

1. Engage students in interdisciplinary, multi-divisional thinking through a focus on local, regional, and transnational global public health issues. Students will gain knowledge of complex global health problems and health care issues. 

2. Describe the connections among historical, socioeconomic, cultural, political, and environmental determinants of health and their importance to global public health. 

3. Examine the connections between human and environmental health, including considerations of water, sanitation, air quality, ecosystem health, and climate change. 

4. Compare the burden of disease, disability, and death from communicable diseases, noncommunicable diseases, and injuries in countries with different income levels. 

5. Compare the financing and delivery of health care in countries with different types of health systems and different income levels. 

6. Evaluate the roles, responsibilities, and relationships of the agencies and organizations involved in financing and implementing global health interventions locally and internationally. 

7. Develop a consciousness regarding global issues and the populations, communities, and governments in impoverished settings by thinking critically about ethical and moral questions in global health, and an awareness of power and privilege in inter-cultural contexts as they relate to health equity.

8. Improve problem-solving, analytical, and leadership skills, and appreciate the complexity of global health research through service-based projects alongside community partners. 

Requirements for the Minor

Core Courses
GHL-177Special Topics (Global Health)1
GHL-201Sociology & Politics of Health1
GHL-277Epidemiology1
GHL-400Capstone in Global Health 10
Electives 23
Three credits from:
Microbiology
Parasitology
Health Psychology
The Poor and Justice
Environmental Philosophy
Special Topics
Economic and Political Development
Disability and Politics
Health Economics
Topics in Ethics & Social Philosophy
Total Credits6

Suggested Co-Curricular Experiences

A focus of Global Health at Wabash is to provide students experiential learning opportunities through partnerships with local non-profit organizations, health departments, and community clinics, as well as regional/international research and immersion experiences. Global Health Minors are strongly encouraged to participate in at least one extended co-curricular experience associated with the Wabash Global Health Initiative (GHI). Examples include the immersion trip to Peru, WISE community positions (multiple opportunities are available each semester), virtual internships with GHI-Peru (partners in Peru, S.A. leading ongoing public health interventions), and summer internships in the following: Community health, advocacy or policy, social entrepreneurship, health education, epidemiology, healthcare-related information technology, or medical research.  Students will also have opportunities to participate in seminars, journal clubs, campus discussions and community programs relevant to public and global health.

As the Global Health minor is not housed in any one department, the committee for the Global Health minor is appointed by the Dean of the College. The committee will be made up of three (3) faculty members who teach from the minor's courses, along with the Program Coordinator of the Global Health Initiative (ex officio). This committee will act to (1) help determine if a new course counts towards the Global Health minor; (2) serve as the minor faculty representative on senior oral comprehensive exams, and (3) review declared minors’ progress at the end of each year. 

Current committee members (2022-2023): 

A. Bost, Biology
S. Gelbman, Political Science
B. Wickkiser, Classics
E. Wetzel, Biology, Chair