DV458 Half Unit
Key issues in Global Health and Development
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Tiziana Leone
Dr Philipa Mladovsky
Availability
This course is compulsory on the MSc in Health and International Development. This course is available on the MSc in Anthropology and Development, MSc in Development Management (Political Economy), MSc in Development Management (Political Economy) (LSE and Sciences Po), MSc in Development Studies, MSc in Economic Policy for International Development, MSc in Gender, MSc in Gender, Development and Globalisation, MSc in Gender, Policy and Inequalities, MSc in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies, MSc in Political Economy of Late Development and MSc in Urbanisation and Development. This course is freely available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. It does not require permission. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
How to apply: Places will be allocated with priority to ID and joint-degree students. If there are more ID and joint-degree students than DV458 can accommodate, these places will be allocated randomly. Non-ID/Joint Degree students will be allocated to spare places by random selection with the preference given first to those degrees where the regulations permit this option.
Deadline for application: You should make your request to take ID courses by 12 noon Friday 26 September 2025.
You will be informed of the outcome by 12 noon Monday 29 September 2025.
Students do not need to write a statement to apply for this course.
For queries contact: intdev.enquiries@lse.ac.uk
Course content
The course provides an up-to-date and comprehensive introduction to global health and health system trends in low and middle-income countries. The course examines the main burden of disease and its evolution and determinants of health issues as they relate to development and their principal consequences, policies and politics to improve health and development; barriers to implementing those policies; and ways of overcoming those barriers. Key topics include the politics of diseases, framing health discourses, governance and the WHO, universal health coverage, health financing trends, impacts of conflict, migration and climate change on health, pharmaceutical governance and global health metrics. Drawing on disciplines such as political science, health policy, demography, sociology and economics, this course argues for the need to improve global health equity in order to contribute to development. It will equip students with the skills needed to work in and help to improve mainstream global health organisations such as WHO, the World Bank, Gates Foundation and MSF among others. The course promotes equality, social justice and human rights as fundamental approaches to global health.
Teaching
15 hours of seminars and 20 hours of lectures in the Autumn Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.
Formative assessment
Presentation
Mock exam
Students are expected to prepare a seminar presentation and complete a mock exam during AT.
Indicative reading
The course is supported by an electronic reading list. There is no single key text but here are some indicative readings:
• Birn, A. et al, 2017, “Textbook of global health”. Oxford University Press
• Marmot, M., et al, 2008, Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health. The lancet, 372(9650), pp.1661-1669
• Shiffman, J. and Shawar, Y.R., 2022. Framing and the formation of global health priorities. The Lancet, 399(10339), pp.1977-1990.
• Adams, V. 2016, “Metrics: what counts in global health”. Duke University Press
• Kieny, M.P., et al 2017, Strengthening health systems for universal health coverage and sustainable development. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 95(7), p.537.
• Gill et al, (2020), Reflections on the political economy of planetary health in Review of International Political Economy. Review of International Political Economy. 27:1
• Romanello, Marina et al. The 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: the imperative for a half-centred response in a world facing irreversible harms. The Lancet, 402 (10419), 2346-2394
Assessment
Exam (100%), duration: 120 Minutes in the January exam period
Key facts
Department: International Development
Course Study Period: Autumn Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Keywords: health, health systems, development, aid, inequality
Total students 2024/25: 59
Average class size 2024/25: 15
Controlled access 2024/25: YesCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication