Course unit details:
Health Systems Challenges in Low and Middle Income Countries
| Unit code | POPH62212 |
|---|---|
| Credit rating | 15 |
| Unit level | FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree |
| Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
| Available as a free choice unit? | No |
Overview
It is envisaged that this unit will be of most interest and relevance to students working in health and social care systems. It will be most applicable to clinicians, managers, and researchers. It is also relevant to any student interested in global health. No pre-existing knowledge is required.
This is an interactive online course. Students are expected to engage in weekly discussion boards with their peers and tutors.
Students will engage in a group activity which is not graded. You must also participate in group discussions on Blackboard throughout the course.
Aims
To gain an understanding of the complexity of health systems and strategies designed to strengthen them.
Learning outcomes
- To understand the roles and responsibilities of health systems
- To understand the basic components of any health system
- To understand the importance of context to health system strengthening
- To appreciate how other players both within countries and outside interact with health systems.
- To apply learning about health systems to specific health topics or countries
Syllabus
Topics Covered:
- Introduction to health systems
- Health Service Delivery
- Health workforce
- Information and Decision Making
- Medicinal products, vaccines & deliveries
- Health Systems Financing
- Universal Health Coverage
- Group Task Week
- Leadership, Governance and Regulation
- Monitoring and Strengthening Health Services
Teaching and learning methods
The majority of the course material to be covered is provided through the written course unit, links to journal articles, web sites and digital book chapters. Some weeks the students will work on an exercise individually or in a group towards assessed discussion boards. This unit will encourage students to share their experiences and use examples from their own practice or area of interest as a basis for their assignments.
Knowledge and understanding
- To understand the roles and responsibilities of health systems
- To understand the basic components of any health system
- To understand the importance of context to health system strengthening
Intellectual skills
- To appreciate how other players both within countries and outside interact with health systems
Practical skills
- To apply learning about health systems to specific health topics or countries
Transferable skills and personal qualities
- To critically appraise the evidence base as relevant to health systems
- To critically synthesise the evidence base succinctly as relevant to health systems
Employability skills
- Analytical skills
- At Masters level we expect students to be able to apply what they know to other contexts, often their own. In this unit students will have the opportunity of doing this in their final assignment.
- Group/team working
- Team working is important for all health professionals and especially Public Health specialists. This unit has a non-graded on-line group working exercise.
- Written communication
- Students will submit a final assignment written essay on a health topic of their choosing.
Assessment methods
| Method | Weight |
|---|---|
| Written assignment (inc essay) | 100% |
Feedback methods
Students will be provided with personalised feedback for their group task and final summative assignment (3,000 words maximum or equivalent) within 20 working days.
Recommended reading
Kruk, M. E., Gage, A. D., Arsenault, C., Jordan, K., Leslie, H. H., Roder-DeWan, S., ... & English, M. (2018). High-quality health systems in the Sustainable Development Goals era: time for a revolution. The Lancet Global Health, 6(11), e1196-e1252.
Schneider, E.C., Shah, A., Doty, M.M., Tikkanen, R., Fields, K., Williams, R. and II, M.M., 2021. Reflecting poorly: health care in the US compared to other high-income countries. New York: The Commonwealth Fund, 4.
Gostin, L.O. and Riedman, E.A. (2015) A retrospective and prospective analysis of the west African Ebola virus disease epidemic: robust national health systems at the foundation and an empowered WHO at the apex, Lancet (London, England), vol. 385, no. 9980, pp. 1902-1909.
Gilson, L., Lehmann, U., & Schneider, H. (2017). Practicing governance towards equity in health systems: LMIC perspectives and experience. International Journal for Equity in Health 16, 171.
World Health Organization, 2016. Global strategy on human resources for health: workforce 2030.
Saigí-Rubió, F., Pereyra-Rodríguez, J.J., Torrent-Sellens, J., Eguia, H., Azzopardi-Muscat, N. and Novillo-Ortiz, D., 2021. Routine health information systems in the European context: a systematic review of systematic reviews. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(9), p.4622.
Pyone, T., Smith, H. and van den Broek, N., 2017. Frameworks to assess health systems governance: a systematic review. Health Policy and Planning, 32(5), pp.710-722.
Chama-Chiliba, C. M., & Koch, S. F. (2016). An assessment of the effect of user fee policy reform on facility-based deliveries in rural Zambia. BMC Research Notes, 9(1), 1-14.
Wagstaff, A., & Neelsen, S. (2020). A comprehensive assessment of universal health coverage in 111 countries: a retrospective observational study. The Lancet Global Health, 8(1), e39-e49.
Sheikh, K., Agyepong, I., Jhalani, M., Ammar, W., et al. (2020) Learning health systems: an empowering agenda for low-income and middle-income countries. The Lancet. 395 (10223), 476–477.
Study hours
| Scheduled activity hours | |
|---|---|
| Seminars | 10 |
| Tutorials | 4 |
| Independent study hours | |
|---|---|
| Independent study | 136 |
Teaching staff
| Staff member | Role |
|---|---|
| Elizabeth Dalgarno | Unit coordinator |
Additional notes
For further information please watch this video from our Course Unit Leader.
If you have any questions about the content of this unit, please contact the course unit leader, Elizabeth Dalgarno, via email at elizabeth.dalgarno@manchester.ac.uk. If you have any other queries, please contact the PGT programme administrators via email at shs.programmes@manchester.ac.uk
FBMH faculty marking criteria will be used to grade final assignments, but students will be given guidance beforehand.
There will be a specific webinar to prepare students for the final assignment.
Students engage in a non-weighted group task and discussion boards where they receive regular feedback. They will also have the opportunity to submit a draft final assignment for feedback prior to final submission.