Dr Arjan Gjonca

This course is available on the MSc in China in Comparative Perspective, 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 Global Health Policy, MSc in Health and International Development, MSc in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies, MSc in Political Economy of Late Development and MSc in Social Research Methods. 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. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

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 DV444 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

The course does not require previous experience of quantitative analaysis. Students are encouraged to learn excel.

Introduction

1. Different disciplinary perspective in analysing health

Poverty

2. Defining, measuring and interpreting Poverty Measurements

3. Analysing the relationship of Poverty and Health

Inequality

4. Measuring inequality in health

5. Inequality indicators of economic, social development and gender (Gini, GII, GDI, HDI etc) 

Mortality and Health 

6. Subjective and objective measurements of health. 

7. Mortality methods and models (IMRs, MMRs, LT, Standardisation) 

8. Capturing the effect of social networking and social capital on health. 

Causality, AI and Digitalisation 

9. What does causality mean in health studies? 

10. The future – Digital health and artificial intelligence  

20 hours of seminars and 10 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

Students on this course will have a reading week in Week 6.

Mock exam in Winter Term Week 9.

Students are expected to contribute in seminars and submit a 1,500-word formative essay in AT.

Jamison, D. T., Summers, L. H., Alleyne, G., Arrow, K. J., Berkley, S., Binagwaho, A., ... & Yamey, G. (2013). Global health 2035: a world converging within a generation. The lancet, 382(9908), 1898-1955.

Butler, C. (Ed.). (2016). Climate change and global health. CABI.
Tripathi, A. D., Mishra, R., Maurya, K. K., Singh, R. B., & Wilson, D. W. (2019). Estimates for world population and global food availability for global health. In The role of functional food security in global health (pp. 3-24). Academic Press.

McMichael T (2001) Human Frontiers, environment and disease.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Merson, MH, Black, ER, Mills, AJ. (2012) Global Health: Diseases, Programmes, Systems, and Policies, London: Jones & Barlett Learning; Caldwell JC.

Vaughan, Megan, et al., editors. (2021) Epidemiological Change and Chronic Disease in Sub-Saharan Africa: Social and Historical Perspectives. UCL Press

Taubenberger, J.K. and Morens, D.M. (2006) “1918 Influenza: the Mother of All Pandemics”; Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol. 12, No. 1, January 2006, pp. 15-22

Patel, V., et al. (2018). “The Lancet Commission on global mental health and sustainable development.” THE LANCET 392(10157): 1553-1598. [Open access, available at https://www.thelancet.com/commissions/global-mental-health]

Popkin, B.M. (2001) The Nutrition Transition and Obesity in the Developing World. Journal of Nutrition 131(3)

Montgomery MR. (2008) The health of urban populations in developing countries. New York, New York, United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division

Exam (100%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period.

The word count includes the body of the essay. It excludes title, headers, bibliography, list of abbreviations, appendices; it includes footnotes/endnotes and everything else.