Download Global Health : A Course

Global Health : A Course
David Matlack
Joyce V. Cadwallader
Global Health
Biology
Geography
Politics
Economics
Sociology
Anthropology
Global Health Unit Comprised of
Two Modules:
Public Health
Emerging Diseases
Public Health Objectives:
To begin to understand issues in global health
and public health.
To understand that these topics are an
interaction of biology, geography, sociology,
economics and politics.
To learn to use tools – databases,
spreadsheets and statistics - to investigate
questions pertaining to global health.
Presentations of Country
Information
Students will present a powerpoint
presentation on the country of their choice
(with representative countries from all
developed, developing and least developed).
Information will be obtained from WHO, UN
and other sources to begin to build databases
on the health conditions in that country.
Political structure, religious background, and
other aspects which would affect health will
be included in the presentations.
Kinds of Information To Be
Collected for Database
Population, Births, Mortality, Infant Mortality
Per capita health care expenditure
Literacy, women’s literacy
Life expectancy vs. DALY (disability adjusted
life years)
Incidences of 10 major diseases
Incidences of 10 major communicable
diseases
To be discussed and decided by class
Global Health Worksheet
Country
Kenya
Tanzania
U.S..A.
France
China
Popluation Life Exp(m) Life Exp (f) Infant Mort
34256000
51
51
120
37445000
47
47
97
298213000
75
80
8
6049600
77
84
4
1323350000
71
74
27
Develop Investigative Groups
Form groups of three students using
compiled data and/or data from other
sources.
Generate a hypothesis and test the
hypothesis using Excel to provide
graphs of information or other data
manipulations.
Emerging Diseases Unit
Objectives
To understand the biology of infectious
disease.
To understand principles of evolution as
they relate to disease.
To gain experience using epidemiologic
models and bioinformatics.
To gain experience in assessing primary
scientific literature.
Case Study on Chikungunya
Fever
Give case study
February 1, 2006
 Jennie explained to her parents after arriving home after a
January term trip to Madagascar was an experience she
would never forget. She was able to see eight species of
lemurs on the island including the black and white ruffed
lemur. The group she was with did behavioral
observations on focal animals to try to understand these
fascinating animals. On alternative days they catalogued
the vegetation of the region surrounding the park. For a
Biology major wanting to become a exotic animal
veterinarian, it was just a fabulous experience.
Case Study
Continued in supplemental material.
After the diagnosis
Ask students to use the SIR Esteem
Module to generate a model of the
outbreak of disease in Indian Ocean
region in January-March, 2006.
New documentation for SIR ESTEEM
module will be generated removing
parts of Microbes Counts module.
Evolution
Using Workbench, students will be
asked to find sequences of the virus
and form a phylogenetic tree.
The evolution and future evolution of
this virus will be discussed. (New
mutants, resistance, etc).
Global Health Implications Panel
Students will brainstorm who they think
are “interested” parties in decision
making in control of this pathogen and
its vectors.
Students will choose one of the
“interested” parties to role play in a
panel discussion to be held at the UN
about control of emerging disease.
Evaluation and Assessment
All of the interdisciplinary courses in the
general studies of the college need to
have a paper assigned. The topic is to
be related to a controversial issue.
(SMWC has a rubric for these papers.)
Rubrics will have to be developed to
evaluate the presentations that will be
graded assignments.
Assessment
A survey will be developed to evaluate
different class activities.
Product evaluation.
References:
Charrel, Remi, et al, 2007, “Chikungunya
Outbreaks – The Globalization of Vectorborne
Diseases,” NEJM 356(8):769.
http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?req
uest=getdocument&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.00302
63
Anton Weisstein, New SIR Model, pre-release.
Acknowledgements
Marion Fass
Ethel Stanley and Margaret Waterman
Tony Weisstein
All the BioQUEST staff and fellow
BioQUESTERs.