Culture and Public Health in Contemporary France

3 units

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. How are we to understand these ideals in the context of contemporary France? To what extent do they apply to immigrants, to the underprivileged, to the dependent elderly? How are these traditional French values reflected in public health policy? In order for students to better understand French values and how they are transposed into public policy, this course examines a certain number of fundamental tenets: the Republic, citizenship, secularity, taking examples from key episodes in French history. It also calls upon health specialists to explore what is being done to improve public health for all, and especially for an aging population which constitutes, in today's France, the most important challenge. Following are some of the themes which will be discussed: the loss of autonomy of the elderly, handicapped people, the attitude in France toward alternative medicine, how the French deal with emergencies, measures of prevention and basic health education. An anthology of texts will be provided to stimulate thought on these difficult problems which concern all of us. Open only to students enrolled in the Nice Pre-Med program.