Course summary

The MSc Global Health will offer you a thorough grounding in this multidisciplinary field, with the opportunity to specialise your studies if you wish later on. Global health is increasingly being framed as a major driver of development, international co-operation and diplomacy, both during and beyond outbreaks of infectious diseases such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This makes it not only a very interesting field of study, but also an incredibly important one regardless of the setting you will work in. How can societies implement more effective intervention strategies to improve access, affordability and quality of health services, especially for vulnerable populations? Who is responsible for initiating and then delivering the strategy in a low-income setting? The answers to most of the important questions in this field are complex and your studies will prepare you to answer them through a multidisciplinary approach. This is about gaining a truly global perspective on the state of people’s health, and enhancing your knowledge through a systematic examination of health problems and their determinants. This course will be relevant to you if you are working, or planning to work, in enhancing population health in low- or middle-income settings, be this within governmental (eg ministries of health), non-governmental or intergovernmental organisations (eg WHO or UN agencies). It will equip you to work effectively at a senior level to promote the health and social wellbeing of populations through the development of effective and responsive health systems. It will orient you to issues on which Institute staff are recognised to have made world-leading research contributions, such as supporting health systems strengthening in fragile and conflict-affected states, and mental health and psychosocial support for vulnerable populations. Participants are typically drawn from a broad range of backgrounds, including physicians, nurses, allied health professions, development and humanitarian workers as well as health ministry and NGO employees.