International development

Hope for health: Disease, development and society

Module code: 008IDA
Level 6
30 credits in autumn semester
Teaching method: Workshop
Assessment modes: Portfolio

On this module, we take a look at answering two questions:

• what challenges do diseases pose to global health, development and wellbeing?
• what sources of hope are there amidst accounts of disease, disorder and dystopia?

You'll answer these qestions through the study of topics that span the past and the present, physical and mental health, and offline/online worlds.

You'll study current debates around the implications for health and wellbeing of issues such as:

• technological innovation
• the production of unhealthy commodities
• the threats of fake and unregistered drugs
• addictions.

You'll also engage with historical and colonial contexts to understand shifts and continuities in diseases and approaches to health and well-being by states and global institutions.

Module learning outcomes

• Demonstrate understanding of how disease shapes society and vice-versa
• Critically analyse arguments and policy positions relating to global and local challenges posed by diseases
• Show a critical understanding of discourses around big and small phama in global and local politics
• Apply knowledge of key social science concepts to the study of contemporary health and development issues
• Find and evaluate academic literature on contemporary health challenges in specific case study settings