LSE’s MSc Global Health will prepare you for a unique career improving health globally by combining social science and population health methods with policy analysis.

The programme provides high-quality, integrated courses which are designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to excel in the field of global health policy. Based in the Department of Social Policy, the MSc Global Health is delivered by faculty based in LSE Health. LSE Health is one of the Department’s associated research centres and one of the world’s most highly rated research centres in international health policy and health economics, both for its research and its institutional links. The programme offers:

teaching by specialists at the forefront of research into global health policy, health economics and population health
a comparative, international and multidisciplinary environment with links to several specialist research groups based in the Department of Social Policy
study with a highly international and diverse group of students and in a truly international environment

Our wide variety of courses gives you the flexibility to customise your curriculum so that you can pursue the areas that most interest you, suit your background, experience and goals, and challenge you to reach your fullest potential. You will leave LSE with the high-level knowledge and range of skills to help you master new challenges and expand your choice of careers.

Possible professional destinations after completing the MSc in Global Health include international organisations and agencies, consultancies, insurance funds, pharmaceutical and medical devices industries, national health services, government departments and agencies and NGOs as well as employment in research or further study for a PhD.

Applicants with a good first degree from any subject background will be considered. The first degree should be of a standard equivalent to at least a British university upper second class honours degree. Relevant professional experience would also be advantageous.

The MSc Global Health begins in September each year and runs for 12 months full-time or 24 months part-time. The programme is highly selective with approximately
30-45 students each year.

The programme comprises seven half-unit taught courses and a dissertation. Each course consists of a minimum of 20 face-to-face contact hours with tutors, alongside additional meetings and off-campus support from faculty such as online revision sessions.

The following are core (compulsory) courses:

Global Health Policy: Institutions, Actors and Politics examines the transnational institutions and actors involved in global health policy and the interplay between them.
Financing Health Care: Comparative Perspectives focuses on the health financing functions of collecting revenue, pooling funds and purchasing services, as well as on policy choices concerning coverage, resource allocation and market structure.
Economic Analysis for Health Policy describes the role economics can play in health policy and health system administration.
Global Ageing considers the process and implications of ageing at both the population and the individual level and policy responses.
Dissertation in Global Health of up to 6,000 words on a topic of your choice, to be prepared in conjunction with a personal supervisor.

Students also take 3 optional courses as follows:

Social Policy and Global Health
Globalisation and Social Policy
Principles of Modern Epidemiology
Global Health and Development
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Health Care
Measuring Health System Performance
Health Systems and Policies in Developing Countries
Planning for Population and Development
Sexual and Reproductive Health Programmes: Design, Implementation and Evaluation
Global Health and Population Change
Valuing Health
Pharmeceutical Economics and Policy
Foundations of Health Policy
Applied Health Econometrics
Evidence Review and Synthesis for Decision Making
Research Methods for Evaluation in Health, Development and Public Policy
Antoher LSE course subject to the approval of the course tutor
Selected linear and study units at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine dubject to the approval of the course tutor

For more extensive course information, please visit the Graduate course guides.

All taught courses in the Department of Social Policy are 'capped'. This means that there are a fixed number of places available. In the first instance, priority for acceptance onto a course is given to students of the Department. The Department is unable to guarantee that a place will be offered on a course unless it is a compulsory element of a programme of study.