Student publication examines global health issues

August 17, 2010 – An examination of five pressing global health issues from the perspective of a group of McMaster University students has been published by the McMaster Health Forum.

Student Voices: Advocating for Global Health through Evidence, Insight and Action, is a five-chapter publication written by students who took The Politics & Praxis of Global Health Advocacy course offered to fourth-year undergraduate students through the Bachelor of Health Sciences program in collaboration with the McMaster Health Forum. Offered for the first time in the winter 2010 term, the course is taught by Steven Hoffman, a former Forum Fellow, who edited the publication.

The course focuses on the complexity of today's most pressing global health challenges and the ways that various actors work to overcome them.

The student publication addresses five issues: internal displacement, disaster relief, water systems, gender-based violence and maternal health. Each chapter examines the global political context in which decisions on the particular health topic of focus are made, explores prevailing trends in the issue area, and considers advocacy strategies that concerned stakeholders can adopt.

The course will be offered again in the winter 2011 term.

To view the student publication, click here.