War and Public Health

Topics

• The objectives of this course include providing students a new paradigm through which they can identify the sustained impact of armed conflict on communities, families and individuals, and understand that those effects linger long after the dead are buried or buildings are reconstructed. The course will provide students with a foundation on which they can build their own line of future inquiry exploring how war impacts public health.
• The learning outcomes of the course include the ability to explain how war’s destruction of the health care infrastructure impedes Public Health’s mission globally — particularly in war zones in low-resource countries — and how war has also impacted Public Health in US communities. In addition, students should be able to place the public health effects of war within the Social Ecological framework. Students should also be able to explain how war can prevent control of infectious diseases, has contributed to outbreaks or re-emergence of diseases that were previously eliminated, and has prevented the eradication of vaccine preventable diseases. Moreover, upon completion of the course, students should be able to explain the effects of war on environmental health, nutrition and psychological health. Students who take the course will apply critical thought to media reports about community violence or adverse health and place them in the framework of the public health consequences of war. Finally, they will be able to evaluate how public health’s prevention approach can be applied to armed conflict.

Official catalogue course objectives and student learning outcomes