• General

    Global Mental Health
    Course Code: PUGLOMH16A

     

    AIM:

    This course aims to provide an introduction to the public health importance of mental health in the global context with wide reference to low- and middle-income countries.

     

    OBJECTIVES:

    By the end of the module, students should be able to:

    1. Appreciate basic concepts of mental illness such as what mental illness is; classification systems for mental illness and the major types of mental disorders;

    2. Appreciate the influence of the social determinants of health; poverty, ethnicity, cultural factors, socio-economic factors and stigma on mental health;

    3. Explain the public health significance of mental illness and analyze issues pertaining to epidemiology and the global disease burden of mental illness;

    4. Gain understanding of particular contexts of relevance to the psychological health of communities within LMIC’s such as disaster situations, conflict and rural mental health;

    5. Understand the need for integration of mental health and development goals;

    6. Describe the gaps in mental health resources, treatment and research in your country and discuss strategies to address these gaps;

    7. Apply an evidence-based approach to considering interventions aimed at improving mental health;

    8. Design a public health intervention plan to improve the mental health of your community.

       

    COURSE BIO:

    Welcome to this course module. This is a much neglected topic that deserves a lot more public health attention than it currently receives due to the huge degree of psychiatric morbidity, disability and mortality incurred worldwide. Mental health issues universally concentrate amongst the poor and disadvantaged, as well as a strong gender bias towards women. There is much more that needs to be done to improve the lives and outcomes of those people who develop mental illness. The module aims to help you understand some of the risk factors, and size of the burden of mental illness and think about policies and interventions that can help tackle this neglected public health issue. By the end students will be armed to appraise the evidence base required to plan interventions to reduce the impact of mental illness.

     

    Timetable and the tutors

    Module Leader: Sarah Carney

    Global Health Module  Dates Facilitator
    Topic 1 March 21st – April 3rd Sarah Carney
    Topic 2 April 4th – April 17th Tiago Inacio
    Topic 3 April 25th – May 8th Claire Niedzwiedz
    Topic 4 May 9th – May 22nd Musa Sami
    Topic 5 May 23rd – June 5th 
    Assignment due June 27th 2016    		 Sarah Carney