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Global Health Protection and Security


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Global Health Protection and Security

Office of Public Health Studies
Biomedical Sciences T103
1960 East West Road
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: (808) 956-6263
Email: globhlth@hawaii.edu
Web: manoa.hawaii.edu/publichealth/certificates

Graduate Faculty

D. V. Canyon, PhD, DBA, MPH, FACTM (Chair)—global health protection
E. Hurwitz, PhD—epidemiology
A. Katz, MD—infectious disease
Y. Lu, PhD—environmental health
J. Maddock, PhD—social and behavioral sciences
W. Zhang, PhD—sociology

Affiliate Graduate Faculty

J. Campbell, PhD, MPH—global health security

Adjunct Faculty

S. Canyon, PhD, MBBS—infectious disease
J. Hii, PhD—global health and vector-borne disease

Certificate Offered: Graduate Certificate in Global Health Protection and Securities

Program Purpose and Goals

Purpose: To promote awareness, knowledge, skills and attitudes conducive to population health, safety, and well-being at local and global levels by enhancing the global health competence of students in the program.

Goals: Within a global context, health protection is broadly linked to global security since emerging, re-emerging and pandemic infectious diseases, major chronic diseases, natural disasters and various forms of resource scarcity including food, water and energy pose innumerable threats to human health. These public health challenges slow developmental progress, disrupt or even reverse national economic development, abrogate cooperation on treaties and agreements, exacerbate civil unrest, de-stabilize regional security and lead to the collapse of governments. The GHPS coursework critically assesses the effects of major global health protection challenges on demographic trends, bilateral cooperation including movement across international borders, flow of trade and foreign capital and fomenting terrorism. Course discussions and case studies on transnational public health are a critical learning strategy and are essential in analyzing how health threats can disrupt regional stability and impact strategic global security policy.

Background

UH Manoa offers this interdisciplinary program leading to the graduate certificate in global health protection and securities (GHPS). First established in 1969 as a graduate certificate program in population studies, the program has subsequently undergone modifications in 2009 to incorporate the component of global health in its name and curriculum. In 2012, the program adopted a more public health orientation and in 2014, the focus was shifted towards health protection and security.

The GHPS will appeal to students interested in how major public health challenges can impact national, regional, and global security. They will find the unique perspective and flexible educational approach of the GHPS a fascinating departure from more traditional disciplines of public health. Graduates will find exciting and meaningful career opportunities in state or domestic federal service, U.S. Foreign Service, national or international non-governmental organizations and private philanthropic institutions.

Health protection consultants commonly complete generic training in public health, with some pursuing epidemiological, medical microbiology and/or clinical infectious diseases training. This has enabled them to apply for communicable disease control positions and other specialized positions that require the generic skills and knowledge of their base specialty, but not the specific knowledge for expert practice in health protection. The specialist health protection knowledge provided in this program is not often included in general public health training and will fill some specialty knowledge gaps.

The GHPS graduate certificate qualification will be used by public health and health protection professionals who seek to pursue a career in health protection or who choose to remain in their field, to further develop knowledge and skills in health protection and security. Practitioners in health protection commonly come from varied backgrounds including doctors who practice international medicine, nurses in local health protection units, epidemiologists at regional and national units and environmental health officers at local, regional and national levels. Furthermore, the health protection workforce is aligned with other professional groups whose roles include an element of health protection, but who are not health protection specialists. For instance, nurses who specialize in hospital infection control, occupational health and health visiting, health emergency planers, environmental health scientists, microbiologists, etc. The GHPS graduate certificate will be popular and useful for professionals working in hospital or community infection control. Alternatively, individuals already working within a health protection setting or intending to move into the field may seek to develop their knowledge and skills in health protection.

Requirements

A total of 15 credits

  • Required Courses (6-9 credits).
    • GHPS/PH 690 Global Health Challenges (3 credits)
    • GHPS/PH 6xx Global Health and Human Security (3 credits)
    • Capstone project may be completed as a standalone entity with no credit or students may enroll in GHPS 699 Directed Reading/Research for up to 3 credits
  • Elective Courses (6-9 credits)
  • Electives (3-6 credits)
    • PH 663 Principles of Epidemiology I (3 credits)*
    • PH 666 Seminar in Infectious Disease Control (3 credits)
    • PH 680 Health Emergencies in Large Populations (3 credits)
    • PH 681 Environmental Determinants of Health (3 credits)
    • PH 765 Program Evaluation (3 credits)
    • PLAN courses from the Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance Certificate

*Students with no epidemiology are required to take PH 663.

Provided that they closely relate to the theme of the program, the GHPS Chair will accept courses from public health or other departments numbered 600 or above and up to 3 credits of 400-level courses.

Double counting of credits is permissible even for core courses in the MPH and MPH specializations.

GHPS Courses