Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Social determinants of health and health inequities. Explores how and why the social advantages and disadvantages that people experience - based on their social position(s) and social circumstances - determine their health status and overall well-being.

COURSE DETAILS:

In this class, we will explore determinants of health and health inequities as social issues, such as how and why the social advantages and disadvantages that people experience—based on our social position(s) and social circumstances—determine health status and overall well-being. Key social determinants of health to be covered include: class and social inequality, employment insecurity & working conditions, early childhood development & education, housing & food insecurity, racism & social exclusion, colonization and indigeneity, gender and sexuality.

Students will be challenged to critically evaluate the context/causes, evidence, intersections, and health effects of social inequities, and to develop their own opinions regarding the social determinants of health, health inequities, and policy solutions.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Evaluate several major social determinants of health in human populations; 

• Evaluate frameworks that explain how social determinants influence population patterns of health and 
illness; 

• Describe and interpret different types of evidence on social determinants of health and health inequities; 

• Define and explain key epidemiological concepts, measures, and study designs for understanding 
evidence on social determinants of health;
• Explain salient mechanisms and pathways through which social determinants influence the health of 
populations and result in health inequities; 

• Describe local, provincial, national, and global policies and actions that can improve social determinants 
of health and reduce health inequities. 


Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: