Overview: The purpose of this third year Introductory Undergraduate Course is to provide a critical, theoretical framework upon which elements of Human Rights, Global Health and the Right to Health can be studied. Since ethical, legal, medical, scientific, cultural, economic, social, political etc. determinants of Health and the Human Rights paradigm will be studied, students from all disciplines in Arts and Science are encouraged to participate in this course.

Format & Materials: The course will use a number of formats and media. These will include film, web sites, primary articles, books and a number of presentations from groups and individuals from outside the University. Essential to the course will be direct participation by the students in lectures, discussions and presentations. Direct participation does not mean merely responding to questions posed by the professor. Rather, it is expected that learned discussions will take place between everyone attending the class. In order that this occur, you are also expected to come to class prepared, at minimum, by reading and having thought about the Required Readings.Your efforts at reading additional materials (a large number of them are also on this web site) will serve to enhance your critical understanding of the themes in this course and will allow you contribute more deeply to the learning environment.

Case studies are structured over essentially two weeks. During the first week in the lecture sessions, the outlines, theoretical frameworks, models, determinants etc. of specific themes in global health & human rights will be presented. Here, multidisciplinary strands that impinge on these themes will be critically discussed. During the second week, student groups will then present their analysis of specific case studies, deciding on which elements they would like to employ. Each presentation will last about 60 minutes including discussion and debate within the class. For the latter aspect, class members are expected to have prepared some analysis of their own in order to contribute to development of a framework for further analysis.

Case Study Times: HMB303 is held from September to December on Thursday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. All lecture sessions are held at that time. An important aspect of the course is the presentations of the case studies. In order for the groups to remain at a reasonable size (4 or less), the class will be slipt into three different groups for presentations: one on Thursday during the regular period, one on Thursday evening and one on Wednesday morning. You will be able to choose the best time for your attendance and presentations at these sessions. If you are scheduled to present at a time distinct from the main class on Thursday mornings, you are required to attend all of the other case studies during that time slot (that is Weeks 4,6,8,10 & 11). All of the lecture sessions, however, are held on Thursday mornings. See the section on "Information About Case Studies" for more information.