MSc Global Public Health

University of Essex

Society the world over is faced with mounting public health challenges, from pandemics to forced displacement, to rapidly depleting planetary resources. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the complex links between population health, and the wider economic, social, political, environmental, and commercial determinants that shape human and planetary health in the globalised world we inhabit. Our MSc Global Public Health will challenge you to investigate these intersecting issues, critically appraise health and public policies, and engage in innovative research to drive forward change that contributes to a more equitable, sustainable, and healthy future.

Globally, most nations have committed to the international human rights framework and the UN Sustainable Development Agenda pledge to “leave no one behind”. However, progress on these promises requires an understanding of the root causes of mounting global inequity as well as the role intersecting crises play in driving increased inequity and distracting from the necessity of structural reform. Developing a deeper understanding of interlinkages will help you develop a foundation from which you’ll explore the increasingly political role of multinational corporations and other powerful actors (such as charitable foundations) in influencing global and national decision-making. This course will equip you with the academic knowledge and skillset to analyse the impact of structural forms of discrimination including racism and colonialism, both in the UK and internationally, so that you can contribute to addressing the roots of the ensuing social injustice this discrimination perpetuates.

Through a combination of interactive lectures, intensive seminars with practitioners and leading experts, and our unique externship opportunities with research and policy institutions of global repute, this course will help you develop a comprehensive and critical understanding of:

• what factors determine our health?
• what drives decision-making and priority setting in global health?
• who governs health, how (i.e., policies and mechanisms) and with what effects at individual, societal, national, and global levels?
• how people, illnesses, and drugs/ therapies travel in a globalised world? How these movements relate to the movement of capital and trade?
• how wider inequalities (based on class, gender, sexuality among others) and systems of oppression interact to shape people’s life chances and ability to thrive?
• And importantly, what skills, approaches, interventions, actions can help resist the detrimental forces that undermine health and well-being and realise the promises of “health for all” and “leave no one behind” to achieve fairer, equitable, and healthier societies?

Your future

This course will prepare you to evaluate and support the development and implementation of evidence-informed and rights-oriented local, national, and global public health policies and programmes. It, therefore, is likely to be of interest to you if you are already working in or are keen to develop a career in public health policy & practice; the health and social care sector; the humanitarian sector; the development sector, and academia.