Global Climate Change and Health

Programme Overview

This course aims to provide you with knowledge and critical understanding of the effects of global climate change on human health. This knowledge will focus on the interactions between climate change and humanitarian emergencies and will explore response, mitigation and adaptation to climate change emergencies on health.

We will look at the humanitarian impact of Climate Change on lives globally. As a student, you will explore the economic, political, social and environmental determinants of vulnerability to the effects of climate change and will be encouraged to examine critically, the key strategies of adaptation and mitigation.

Taking a student-centred and problem-solving approach to facilitate deep learning, core information will be presented in class and through several online platform (per need) Face-to-face seminars, groups work and tutorials will be available to students in Liverpool.

Academic Credit

For an additional fee of £95, you can be entered for full Academic Credits for this course (20 Masters level credits). The academic credits are offered to provide choice and flexibility to all of our students and students who do not wish to do the assessments will be awarded a Certificate of Attendance. Applicants wishing to find out more about the assessment should contact MyLSTM@lstmed.ac.uk(link sends e-mail).

15% Reflective Essay (500 words) – Reflect on your journey through the course: how has your learning influenced your attitudes/behaviour regarding your own carbon footprint? Indicate how you are developing your skill/competencies as a leader in tackling the health impact of climate change.

25% Group Presentation – based on a case study of how global climate change is affecting the nature, frequency and magnitude of humanitarian emergencies. Each member of the group will also summarise their contribution to the group presentation.

60% Essay (2,500 words) – Name a current/potential threat to human life/livelihood due to global climate change; critically review the complex determinants of vulnerability and appraise global frameworks/adaptation strategies to promote health/mitigate against the threat.

Programme Structure

Topics will include:

• Introduction to climate change
• Climate change and human health: human exposure, climate change and infectious diseases, climate change and non-communicable diseases
• Climate Change and Public Health: Socio-economic, environmental and population effects, National assessments of health impacts, Monitoring the health effects of climate change, Regional case studies
• The One Health agenda
• Managing environmental hazards
• Global guidelines and legal frameworks
• Collaboration and team working
• Strategies for adaptation, mitigation of climate-change related emergencies:
  • Determinants of adaptive capacity
  • Vulnerability assessment
  • Strategies for reducing vulnerability and strengthening adaptive capacity
  • Climate and health information systems for strategic planning
  • Greenhouse gas emission trends and global debates on cost-sharing
  • Mitigation in the short, medium and long term
  • Policies, measures and instruments to mitigate climate change
  • Integrating climate change considerations into development policies
  • Current controversies and debates

Aims

LSTM education courses are taught within a dynamic environment by staff working at the cutting-edge of research in tropical medicine and global health. They are designed to enable the professional development of the student, to be relevant to students from both the UK and overseas and to promote approaches to study that will enable students to continue their learning into the future.

This course aims to:

• Critically discuss how global climate change is likely to affect the nature, frequency and magnitude of humanitarian emergencies.
• Critically discuss the complex social, political, economic and environmental determinants of vulnerability to the effects of global climate change.
• Identify and critically analyse current and potential threats to human health and livelihoods due to global climate change.
• Critically appraise global frameworks and adaptation strategies to promote health and mitigate against climate-change emergencies

English language requirements

LSTM accept a wide variety of evidence of English language including IELTS, TOEFL and international school certificates.  Please see our website for full details https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/study/international-and-eu-students/english-language-requirements