Program Overview

Program Details

The program details are extracted from the provided markdown content. The content appears to be related to a university program, specifically the PUBH311 - Contemporary Issues in Public Health unit.

Unit Overview

Year

2021

Credit Points

10

Campus Offering

No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.

Prerequisites

• PUBH100 Foundations of Public Health
• PUBH200 Globalisation, Environment and Health

Unit Rationale, Description, and Aim

To promote and protect population health, public health professionals must understand and respond to contemporary and emerging health challenges. These issues change over time and are reflected in the concerns of public health agencies worldwide. In this unit, students will gain an in-depth understanding of key contemporary and emerging public health challenges, their determinants, and approaches to addressing them.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Describe key contemporary public health challenges and their determinants.
2. Analyse the public health implications of current policies and programmes.
3. Evaluate current evidence to identify pressing public health issues and evidence-based approaches to addressing them.
4. Develop and advocate for healthy public policy and effective public health interventions that reduce health inequities.

Graduate Attributes

• GA3: Apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making.
• GA4: Think critically and reflectively.
• GA5: Demonstrate values, knowledge, skills, and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession.
• GA6: Solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account.
• GA8: Locate, organise, analyse, synthesise, and evaluate information.

Content

Topics will include (but are not limited to):

• Overview of contemporary issues in public health.
• Identifying and addressing contemporary issues in public health.

Learning and Teaching Strategy and Rationale

This unit is offered in attendance mode to ensure high-quality interactive and constructive peer learning. The unit comprises weekly lectures and tutorials during the semester, using an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of contemporary public health issues and practices.

Assessment Strategy and Rationale

A range of assessment tasks will be used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. To complete this unit successfully, students need to obtain an aggregate mark of greater than 50%. Assessment in this unit will comprise two assignments and an end-of-semester exam.

Overview of Assessments

• Report Plan: Requires students to demonstrate research skills and development of key arguments (20%).
• Report: Requires students to apply evidence and knowledge to develop and advocate for an effective public health strategy (50%).
• Examination: Requires students to demonstrate understanding and application of knowledge gained in this unit (30%).

Representative Texts and References

• Baum F. (2016). Part 8: Public health in the twenty-first century. In The New Public Health. (4th ed.). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
• Dyakova, M., Hamelmann, C., Bellis, M. A., Besnier, E., Grey, C. N. B., Ashton, K., ... & Clar, C. (2017). Investment for health and well-being: a review of the social return on investment from public health policies to support implementing the Sustainable Development Goals by building on Health 2020. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe.
• Somerset S, Robinson P, & Kelsall H (2017). Foundation competencies for public health graduates in Australia (2nd ed.). Canberra: Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Australia.
• Watts, N., Adger, W. N., Agnolucci, P., Blackstock, J., Byass, P., Cai, W., ... & Cox, P. M. (2015). Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health. The Lancet, (10006).
• World Health Organization, & UN Habitat. (2016). Global report on urban health: equitable healthier cities for sustainable development. Italy: World Health Organization.