International Health Policy and Management

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Examines the mobilization of resources for the health system as a whole and the funding of individual providers for health services in developing countries. Provides the tools for examining broad reforms as well as refinements of individual components of the health care system.

Instructor: Donald Shepard

Begins with definitions of policy and how policy is made from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Examines several frameworks for analyzing policy implementation and for planning implementation strategies. Several sessions will focus on the management skills and tools useful to planning and managing the implementation of policy change. Students will have the opportunity to bring conceptual knowledge and skills together in analysis of several case studies.

Instructor: Susan Holcombe

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

National Health Accounts (NHA) is a globally accepted framework and approach for measuring total national health expenditure. Provides an overview of the concepts and methodology of NHA. Students will understand the international classification systems used to categorize health expenditures, be able to construct NHA tables, and understand the uses to which NHA data can be put.

Instructor: Gary Gaumer or A.K. Nandakumar

Studies how global movements in dealing with health have shaped health systems, the emerging challenges developing countries are facing, and how these might affect health systems. Students will study the link between health and development, how health systems are organized, how health care is financed,and the role pf public and private sectors in providing health care, regulation, and consumer behavior.

Instructor: Gary Gaumer or A.K. Nandakumar

Provides a rigorous economic framework that addresses positive and normative issues in the economics of health in developing countries. Topics include: relationship between health outcomes and macroeconomic performance; microeconomics of health care and insurance markets, including demand for health care services, insurance, supply of physician services, and other medical services; normative analysis for health policy and projects, including market failure and public intervention; and emerging issues in international health in low- and middle-income countries.

Instructor: Gary Gaumer or A.K. Nandakumar

May not be taken by students who took HS 316f.

Examines major current issues in health policy and global governance shaping our world in the 21st century. There is increasing recognition of the development threats from health problems – from emerging infectious diseases to the recognition that global climate change is contributing to new or re-emerging health threats. The recent WHO Commission on Social Determinants for Health outlined an ambitious agenda for research on health determinants, systems, and financing and new global institutions are promoting greater evidence-based research for health policy making that incorporate a wider array of inputs and stakeholders.

Instructor: Joan Kaufman

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Improved health status at a population level is recognized as an economic, political, and social good for countries at all income levels. This seminar will provide an opportunity to learn about the history and evolving rationale behind health sector reform. It will identify methods and tools that are used to assess and evaluate health systems, including determining the causes of problems. It will provide students with the conceptual and technical tools to develop innovative solutions that can be implemented with an aim to improving health system performance and equity. Since global health sector reform entails consultation from experts, this module will also provide information about this process.

Instructor: Sarita Bhalotra