Course: Using Summary Measures of Population Health to Improve Health Systems
Syllabus
Course Description
Explores the conceptual basis and application of summary measures of population health status. Presents approaches to measuring the burden of disease in populations and their use for guiding resource allocation and planning efficient and equitable health care systems. Lectures, discussions, and group exercises focus on composite indicators, exploring social and ethical value choices, and assessing the burden of disease at national level
Course Objectives
1. To become familiar with various approaches to measuring the burden of disease in populations.
2. To study the use of SMPH for guiding resource allocation and planning efficient and equitable health care systems.
3. To explore social and ethical value choices in calculating SMPH.
4. To understand how to assess the burden of disease at national level.
Readings
While there is no single textbook for this course, the following is a good general reference:
Course Requirements
Class participation (20%): Participation in class discussions and LiveTalk attendance will be graded.
Assignments 1 & 2: HeaLY case study (40%): These exercises will focus on the use of HeaLY as a summary measure of population health and responding to specific scenarios. Each of the two assignments will be 20% of your final grade.
Quizzes (10%): Several multiple-choice quizzes will be administered throughout the course which will focus on the concepts, value choices, generation, and application of SMPH.
Article Critique (30%): This assignment involves writing a paper critiquing a relevant journal article.
