This topic provides an opportunity to explore political issues connected to health through a case studies approach.
Many of the topics, political issues and key concepts encountered in the four core units of this course are also central to discussions of health; for example, the function and impact of local and national initiatives to improve public health compared with the role of global actors such as the World Health Organization or international NGOs. Epidemics travel across borders and require international cooperation. Health is an important determinant of quality of life, and the health issues from which people suffer in different parts of the world are indicative of wider socioeconomic developments.

Learning outcomes:
• knowledge and understanding of a specific case study and a specific political issue related to health
• application of relevant key concepts, theories and ideas from the core units to analysis of the case
• evaluation of the case study from different perspectives and in the wider context of global politics
• an experience of having carried out a self-directed, teacher-supported research process and communicating the conclusions of this process through an oral presentation.

Suggested examples
Students must undertake a detailed case study relating to the global political challenge presented by health, and deliver an oral presentation focused on a political issue embedded in the case. The case studies and political issues below are examples only.

• Syrian refugees in Jordan—the role of different political actors in arranging healthcare provision in refugee camps

• HIV/AIDS in rural South Africa—to what extent are poverty and the spread/contamination of the epidemic linked?

• Drug addiction and access to healthcare in Florida—how are “quiet voices” heard in American politics?

• Leprosy in Nepal—efficacy of international NGOs versus governmental health care

• Ebola outbreak in Liberia—the state’s consideration (or lack thereof) of civil liberties