Master's Programme in Global Health
This education has a focus on sustainability. The teacher has created the course or program to fit into at least one of our 10 sustainability criteria. For you as a student, the sustainability label means guidance, quality assurance, and a guarantee that courses or programs contain a pronounced perspective on sustainability.
Summary
The master's programme in Global Health provides an interdisciplinary perspective to global development and health. As a student of the programme, you will develop a range of competencies necessary for promoting global health equality and equity. You will be prepared to analyse and problematize the spreading of unequal health and be able to carry out interventions and contribute to a sustainable future.
About
The intersection between global and local health is influenced by a myriad of social and biomedical dynamics that must be considered simultaneously for policy- and decision-makers, students, and scholars to fully understand their complexity. Sustainable development, human rights, and power structures related to age, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic groups must be taken into consideration. Departing from frontline research, our programme encourages you to think critically and work independently as we incorporate these considerations into our teaching.
An interdisciplinary and collaborative education
In order for you to acquire a broad perspective and the tools needed to address complex global health challenges, the programme integrates theories and methods from four faculties and five departments:
- Department of Medicine at Sahlgrenska Academy
- Department of Social Work at the Faculty of Social Sciences
- Department of Economics at the School of Business, Economics and Law
- Department of Literature, History of Ideas and Religion at the Faculty of Humanities
- School of Global Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences
The courses therefore present and condense major global health challenges and their governance from the perspectives of biomedicine, public health, international relations, development economics, social work, and anthropology.
Emphasizing sustainability
You will learn about the global burden of disease, globalization of health care, and global efforts to reduce health disparities, and will be equipped with practical skills and tools needed for mapping, analysing, and creating actionable steps to solve complex global health problems.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and human rights doctrines—including their meaning in diverse settings—plays a prominent role in the courses, and different themes such as global health governance and global health economics are discussed in relation to these goals.
Balancing theory with practice
You will have the opportunity to participate in workshops where you put your theoretical knowledge into practice to be prepared for the independent collection and analysis of data required for your master’s thesis.
The programme is founded on problematization as an approach towards the subject, and provides theoretical and practical skills in order to be able to work in a politico-economic reality in which the aim is to eradicate absolute poverty and to achieve a higher degree of equal health.
The first year of the programme provides a theoretical foundation, and in the second year, there are opportunities to combine theory and practice through a field course in health promotion, an elective internship, and with your master’s thesis.
Programme structure and content
The first year consists of four core courses addressing the global burden of disease, globalization of healthcare, research methods, and health economics and interventions:
- Global Health Challenges in an Interdisciplinary Context
- Quantitative and Qualitative Methods
- Governing Health and Illness in a Global Perspective
- Global Health Economics
The third semester includes the following recommended courses:
- Applied qualitative methods
- Applied epidemiology and biostatistics
- Health promotion and disease prevention in risk groups: strategies and methods
You are also given the opportunity to take an elective internship course, or may choose other elective specialized courses according to your interests and goals.
The fourth semester is devoted to your master’s thesis. We encourage you to collaborate with a research group or a global health agency, and you will have assistance in planning your work.
Who should apply?
- Are you interested in social, economic, and health-related poverty issues and human rights?
- Do you want to work to reduce absolute poverty and to improve health equity?
- Do you want to learn practical skills and tools needed for mapping, analysing, and creating actionable steps to solve complex global health problems?
- Are you concerned about a sustainable future, and want the skills to contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals?
If you want to be engaged in promoting population health and reducing health inequities, then apply for the master’s programme in Global Health.
Prerequisites and selection
Requirements
In order to be accepted for the Master's Programme in Global Health, students must meet the basic entrance requirements, hold a Bachelor's degree worth 180 credits in a social sciences/health sciences/economics/arts main area or equivalent and English B/English 6 at upper secondary level or the equivalent level of an internationally recognized test, for example TOEFL, IELTS.
Special instructions for application
Find out more about how to apply to the Master's Programme in Global Health at the link below.
More information about Special instructions for application
Selection
Applications will be ranked by the Institute of Medicine based on students degrees earned, work experience and motivation for applying to the program. A verification of degree and English requirements must be submitted together with a completed application form template.
Applicants with correct verification of degree and English requirements but without a completed application form template can be admitted if there are any vacancies.
After graduation
Graduates of the programme receive the degree Master of Medical Science with a major in Global Health. Work opportunities within global health will be found at a broad range of organizations engaged in promoting population health, such as local and regional public health units and authorities, ministries of health and social affairs, UN bodies and nongovernmental organizations.
Global health professionals perform a wide spectrum of tasks such as: collecting and analysing population data on disease and health patterns; creating public policies for promoting healthy lifestyles; implementing human rights doctrines; and improving access to health care and other societal services to vulnerable groups.
Facilities
Learn more about Campus Medicinareberget below.
More information about facilities
Internship
During the third semester you can choose to complete an internship in Sweden or abroad.
