Unequal Geographies - Health and Welfare in the Western World (U00804)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : GEO-3-UNEQUAL

This course is about the geography of health inequalities and about the growing salience of the health divide. It explores the incidence of death and disease, and maps out the contours of health and wellbeing. It explains why poor health is not just bad luck, but is systematically and unequally distributed on global, national and local scales. It considers the possibility that health inequalities are becoming the major social divide in the western world.

This is a problem-based course in which student compare and evaluate a range of explanations for the nature and extent of health inequalities, and in which student projects expand their existing knowledge base concerning the determinants of health, wellbeing and the quality of life.

The course includes independent study as well as group work. High priority is attached to student's active participation in the learning process. Course material is covered in lectures, discussion groups and project work.

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Geography, (School of GeoSciences, Schedule N)

Other subject areas

Environmental Courses, (School of GeoSciences, Schedule N)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Not being delivered

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

i) Appreciate the complexity of terms like health, disease and illness, and become familiar with how to monitor their incidence, distribution and change over time.
ii) Review and document the nature and extent of inequalities in mortality and morbidity within and between societies.
iii) Use specific examples to compare and evaluate a range of explanations for the geography of health inequalities.
iv) Consider the determinants of good health and examine the prospects for creating 'geographies of contentmen'.

Assessment Information

Class assessment: As outlined in course handbook
Degree assessment: One two-hour examination (2 questions) OR One 4,000 word project on a specialist subject