Handbook

This topic will explore the global distribution of poor health and the factors that structure it. Students will examine contemporary global health issues in low-income countries and marginalised communities in the global South in order to develop an understanding of why such contexts continue to disproportionately bear the burden of the world's health issues. Focusing on specific contexts and communities will afford an understanding of how disease and illness are experienced and understood in specific settings. Students will develop critical analysis and evaluation skills by drawing on rich ethnographic case studies to examine health policies and development interventions that seek to improve global health equitably, gauging their benefits and unintended consequences and how they play out in people's everyday lives. Throughout the topic, particular attention will be focused on the effects of policy and practice on the lives of ordinary people, particularly those living in marginalised communities in the global South. The topic encourages students to think critically about global health and development, the difficulties and constraints but also about what can be achieved.