Global Health and Population Studies

Office of Public Health Studies
John A. Burns School of Medicine
Biomedical Sciences D104A
1960 East West Road
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: (808) 956-5757, 956-5745
Fax: (808) 956-5818
Email: popstudy@hawaii.edu
Web: www.populationstudies.hawaii.edu

Graduate Faculty

T. Tamulis, PhD (Director)—epidemiology and environmental health
C. M. Douglas, PhD—urban and regional planning
T. Halliday, PhD—economics
S. J. La Croix, PhD—economics
H. R. Lee, PhD—speech
S. H. Lee, PhD—economics
Y. J. Lee, PhD—sociology
J. Maddock, PhD—public health sciences
A. Mason, PhD—economics
S. Millman—sociology
G. Russo, PhD—economics
C. Stephenson, PhD—political sciences

Affiliate Graduate Faculty

L. J. Cho, PhD—sociology and economics
R. Retherford, PhD—sociology
P. Xenos, PhD—sociology

Certificate Offered: Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Global Health and Population Studies.

The Academic Program

The Global Health and Population Studies Program (GHAPS) is an interdisciplinary graduate certificate program jointly offered by the University of Hawai‘i and the East West Center. The Population Studies Program was established in 1969, and its name and curriculum was modified in 2009 to include training in global health concepts and methodology. The mission of GHAPS is to promote scholarship in global health and population studies, to develop evidence-based practical solutions, and to promote health for all through accessible interdisciplinary education and training, research, service, and community partnership.

Global health is defined by the Institute of Medicine as “health problems, issues and concerns that transcend national boundaries, may be influenced by circumstances or experiences in other countries, and are best addressed by cooperative actions and solutions.” The discipline of global health is concerned with developing theories and methods to understand the roots of social, economic, political, and environmental determinants of health, with a focus on the nature of health inequalities. The program explores the effects of globalization, environmental change, macroeconomic policy, and culture on population health and population demography. GHAPS uses a systems approach to study social, demographic, political, environmental, and economic change in the contemporary world, and the association between these global changes and such global health issues as fertility, communicable, and non-communicable diseases, maternal and child health, migration and humanitarian assistance, population growth, aging, and sustainable development. The subject matter is addressed from an interdisciplinary perspective with an emphasis on policy-oriented study and research.

Given the location of the East-West Center and UH Manoa and the expertise of its faculty, the graduate program emphasizes policies and issues of importance in the Asia-Pacific region. The program’s curriculum draws on the strengths of its interdisciplinary faculty, who represent such disciplines as public health, sociology, demography, economics, tropical medicine, geography, anthropology, political science, and urban and regional planning. GHAPS seeks to prepare students for careers in international health and health policy, population studies and demographic methods, and interdisciplinary academic research.

Certificate Requirements

The interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Population Studies consists of 16 credits of course work, earning a grade of more than B- in any course, and a capstone project or comprehensive examination.

Specific Requirements are:

A core of three courses (7 credits), Introduction to Human Population (PPST 650/ PH 651/SOC 650, 3 credits), Introduction to Global Health (PPST 690/ PH690, 3 credits), and Interdisciplinary Seminar (PPST 649/ PH 652, 1 credit)
Three courses numbered 600 or above (9 credits) selected from any of the 7 focus areas (epidemiologic and demographic research methods; global health and sustainable development; ecology and health; population and economics; aging; social mobility and spatial dynamics; marriage, family, and fertility). Students may choose to enroll for Directed Reading and Research (PPST 699) when undertaking their capstone project. Up to 3 credits of PPST 699 can be applied to the 9-credit requirement. On petition, the program director may accept 600-level courses or above that are not listed within any of the seven focus areas. The program director may also accept up to 3 credits of 400-level course. Courses taken for credit may be applied to both a graduate degree and the interdisciplinary certificate.
A capstone project. Either a research paper of publishable quality on a global health and/or population topic, a grant proposal with the student as principal author, or other capstone project with the prior written approval of the director of the program. At the end of their project, students must present their results in a seminar. It is the responsibility of the student to identify an appropriate faculty member to serve as an academic advisor of his or her capstone project. The program director then appoints the faculty advisor in consultation with the student and the proposed faculty advisor. The capstone project will be evaluated by a three-member assessment committee, consisting of the faculty advisor and two additional faculty members appointed by the program director in consultation with the student. Students may also choose to take a comprehensive exam in lieu of a capstone project.
Comprehensive Examination. The comprehensive examination consists of six questions, and at least four of the six questions must be answered in order to successfully complete the exam. The written examination will be followed by an oral discussion. The exam questions will be broad in scope and assume basic knowledge of the concepts, substance, methods, and techniques used in global health and population studies. The answers will be evaluated based on the effective integration of previous material and coursework, plausible arguments, and reflective statements.

Thematic Clusters in Global Health and Population Studies

Global health and population studies consists of a core of seven major themes or key topics: global health and sustainable development; global environmental change, ecology and health; marriage, family, and fertility; aging; social mobility and spatial dynamics; population and economics; and demographic research methods. Each of these themes is conceived as an overlapping circle to emphasize the exchange of information and ideas on contemporary global health issues and human population demography, based on interdisciplinary courses and seminars in population studies, social sciences, and public health sciences.

Global Health and Sustainable Development focuses on trends in morbidity and mortality and their relationship to political, social, and economic change. The module emphasizes behavioral determinants of health, the effects of income and education, gender and race, and health policy. In addition, it addresses the effects of illness on individual outcomes, e.g., educational attainment and earnings, and on aggregate development, e.g., urbanization and growth on GDP. An important topic is the emergence of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, maternal and child health, nutrition, global environmental change, and special population groups, such as immigrants and displaced people, humanitarian assistance and disaster management. Various policy prescriptions are considered; including critical review of health care delivery systems worldwide, implementing vaccination campaigns and other public health or preventative care services, and improving education. Close attention is paid to the importance of reproductive health in lowering fertility and infant mortality rates as well as in thwarting the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases. The module emphasizes the important role that women play in improving health in the developing world. Critical topics also include the debate over ‘sustainable development’ and the impact of population growth on land use, marine resources, air quality, water, and global climate change. A final emphasis of the module is on the disparities in health outcomes: across rich and poor individuals, across the developed and developing world, as well as across races, genders, and indigenous population groups.

Global Environmental Change, Ecology, and Health provides interdisciplinary understanding of contemporary global environmental problems and issues (e.g., global warming, ozone depletion, acid rains, and changes in human-coupled natural ecosystem) and the effect of global environmental and ecosystem changes on human health. The module emphasizes natural and man-made ecosystem changes and emerging infectious diseases, global warming effect on natural ecosystems and human health, and critical understanding and systems thinking skills required to understand the principles of transdisciplinary research.

Marriage, Family, and Fertility The institutions of marriage, the family, and the household are crucial in demographic processes and are at the center of broader social and economic change as well. This module examines these key institutions from economic, sociological, and other perspectives, with particular attention to their roles in shaping demographic systems. Families and households allocate resources among its members and across time. In so doing, they influence the level and distribution of mortality and morbidity, education, and other components of well-being. The family is central to reproduction and the replacement of populations. The module considers factors underlying levels of reproduction in technologically less-developed societies and societies with modern demographic regimes, and examines the place of these institutions in recognized variations in long-term transitions from one to the other. These institutions are also central to the recent trend in many societies toward very low fertility. The same institutions are important to our understanding of migration patterns. Attention is given to ways that families and households influence the residential changes of individuals.

Aging addresses the processes of individual aging and population aging. The first of the two foci considers the evolution of health, employment, earnings and assets, living arrangements, and other individual characteristics that vary with age. Close attention is paid to the inter-relationships among these characteristics, differences in these processes both across countries and across demographic groups within countries, and the implications of public policy, e.g., retirement and pension policy. The second of the module’s two foci discusses how societies are affected by and cope with an aging population. It discusses how societies look after the financial and personal well-being of their retired and disabled constituents as well as how societies provide medical care to their citizens as their health atrophies. A particular emphasis is on the systems of support, both public and private, that provide housing, consumption, medical care for the elderly and disabled, and how systems vary across the developed and developing worlds.

Social Mobility and Spatial Dynamics focuses on the spatial dynamics of societies with particular attention to issues of internal and international migration and the size and other characteristics of places from the village community to the mega-urban region. Population movement within and between countries consists of a variety of forms of mobility associated with physical resource endowments, historical social and economic development, demographic systems, and public policy. The literatures of demography and other social sciences also consider the characteristics of migrants and migrant streams.

Population and Economics addresses the connections between population change and the economy at both the aggregate and individual level. What are the implications for slowing population growth and changing age structure for economic growth, poverty, and other macroeconomic variables? How are marriage, childbearing, living arrangements, and other demographic behaviors responding to and influencing economic circumstances? How are labor force decisions by women, retirement behavior, and other employment decisions influenced by demographic factors?

Demographic Research Methods provides additional training in the concepts and techniques of demographic analysis, such as: (1) methods of collecting valid and reliable information about population, such as survey design and sampling method, and (2) methods of analyzing data which are available in the field of demography, such as survival analysis, multi-stage/multi-regional demography, and other state-of-the-art statistical techniques for data analysis.

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