Focus is upon political, economic, and regulatory constraints, including the potential impact of new technologies such as direct broadcast satellite and high definition television. Health Science 401, Community Health, as is currently being taught, does not deal with health problems outside the boundary of the United States. The issues and topics that are discussed in the course at present are primarily domestic. Depending on the resources available, the students will visit the clinic site, carry out a health care needs assessment, and plan and implement new programs or upgrade the existing ones to meet the needs that they have identified. The core course HSC 400, Epidemiology, offered by the Department of Health Science, is required of all undergradute and graduate Health Science majors.
Epidemiology deals with the distribution and determinants of disease in populations.
Because it is considered to be the most fundamental discipline in the public health sciences, HSC 400 is very relevant to international health issues. This proposal would internationalize HSC 400 by incorporating greatly increased coverage of international health issues and offering students an opportunity to explore the epidemiology of an international health problem in their term paper assignment. The effort to internationalize epidemiology would also be consistent with other efforts in the Department of Health Science to develop an international focus.