Global Health Minor Curriculum | University of Washington

Undergraduate Programs

Curriculum requirements for the Global Health Minor are outlined below. Students are encouraged to meet with an adviser to discuss the subject matter of the minor and plans for completing the minor before declaring to ensure that all requirements are understood and can be met.

Minor Requirements

Required Courses 11 credits

Introductory Course 5 credits
- G H 101 Introduction to Global Health: Disparities, Determinants, Policies & Outcomes (5) Autumn (online) / Winter (online) / Spring (in-person: recommended)
Biologic Principles in Global Health 3 credits (choose one)
- G H 210 Confronting Global Diseases: Introductory Biologic Principles and Context (3) Spring
- G H 410 Advanced Biologic Principles of Global Diseases (3) Winter
  Prerequisite: BIOL 180, MICROM 301, or G H 210 (must take one)
Perspectives in Global Health Series 3 credits (must take all three; nonsequential)
- G H 201 Multidisciplinary Perspectives in Global Health (1) Autumn
- G H 401 Core Topics in Global Health (1) Autumn
- G H 402 Contemporary Issues in Global Health (1) Winter
  - Optional additional 1-credit discussion section available for all three courses - see time schedule to register

Elective Areas 19 credits
Must take one class in each Elective Area. Elective area descriptions are located Elective Content Areas_Description.pdf .
A.    The Environment & Global Health
B.    Comparative Health Systems & Approaches to Health
C.    Sociocultural Ecology of Health
D.    Regional & Area Studies

Additional Requirements

Minimum of 30 credits required to complete the minor
Minimum of 15 credits unique to the minor (not shared with major) – Only 15 credits can overlap with your major!
Minimum of 15 credits of upper division coursework (300-/400-/500-level)
Minimum of 15 credits must be completed at the University of Washington
Minimum of 2.0 in every course applied towards the minor
Courses taken S/NS cannot be counted toward a minor

(A) The Environment & Global Health

The classes in category A address environmental influences on health and disease globally. They vary in disciplinary specialization from the microbiology of environmental hazards to the anthropology, geography and environmental science of nature-society interrelations.

AES/ANTH 487 Cultures and Politics of Environmental Justice (I&S) [5 credits]
ANTH 210 Introduction to Environmental Anthropology (I&S) [5 credits]
ATM S 111 Global Warming: Understanding the Issues (I&S, NW) [5 credits]
ATM S 211 Climate and Climate Change (I&S, NW) [5 credits]
BIO A 387 Ecological Perspectives on Environmental Stress, Adaptation, and Health (NW) [5 credits]
CEE 495/ENVIR 415/M E 415 Sustainability and Design for Environment [3 credits]
ENV H 311 Introduction to Environmental Health (I&S, NW) [3 credits]
ENV H 440 Water, Wastewater, and Health [3 credits]
ENV H 451 Ecology of Environmentally Transmitted Microbiological Hazards [3 credits]
ENVIR 100 Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Foundations (I&S, NW) [5 credits]
ENVIR 360/JSIS B 350/SCAND 350 Environmental Norms in International Politics (I&S) [5 credits]
ENVIR 384/POL S 384 Global Environmental Politics (I&S) [5 credits]
ENVIR 433/JSIS B 433/SMEA 433 Environmental Degradation in the Tropics (I&S, NW) [5 credits]
EPI 320 Introduction to Epidemiology (NW) [3 credits]
GEOG 270 Geographies and Int’l Development and Environmental Change (I&S) [5 credits]
GEOG 271 Geography of Food and Eating (I&S) [5 credits]
GEOG 371 World Hunger and Agricultural Development (I&S) [5 credits]
GEOG 380 Geographical Patterns of Health and Disease (I&S) [5 credits]
GEOG 480 Environmental Geography, Climate, and Health (I&S) [5 credits]
NUTR 200 Nutrition for Today (NW) [4 credits]
NUTR 302 Food Studies: Harvest to Health (I&S/NW) [3 credits]

(B) Comparative Health Systems and Approaches to Health

The classes in category B enable students to compare and contrast how different health systems and cultural influences vary and shape health outcomes around the world. They introduce ethical, legal and ethnographic insights into care and healing, as well as into health services targeted at particular populations and diseases.

ANTH 215 Introduction to Medical Anthropology and Global Health (I&S) [5 credits]
ANTH 375 Comparative Systems of Healing (I&S) [5 credits]
ANTH 472 Case Studies in Medical Anthropology and Global Health (I&S) [5 credits]
ANTH 474 Social Difference and Medical Knowledge (I&S) [5 credits]
ANTH 475/HSERV 475 Perspectives in Medical Anthropology (I&S) [5 credits]
ANTH 483 Africa Living with HIV/AIDS (I&S) [5 credits]
B H 440 Philosophy of Medicine (I&S) [5 credits]
B H 474/PHIL 411 Justice in Health Care (I&S, VLPA) [5 credits]
BIO A 465/NUTR 465 Nutritional Anthropology (I&S, NW) [3 credits]
BIOEN 215 Introduction to Bioengineering Problem Solving [3 credits]
GEOG 280 Introduction to the Geography of Health and Health Care (I&S) [5 credits]
GEOG 331 Global Poverty and Care (I&S) [5 credits]
G H/HSERV 482 The Health of Populations (I&S) [4 credits]
HONORS 222/253 HIV and AIDS: Issues and Challenges (5 credits)
HSTCMP 247 Before Global Health: The Histories of Public Health and International Health in the Global South (I&S) [5 credits]
HSTCMP 410 Medicine, History, and Society (I&S) [5 credits]

(C) Sociocultural Ecology of Health

The classes in category C analyze the social, political and economic determinants of health, thereby putting local experiences of affliction in the context of more global structural forces. Neoliberal globalization, global inequalities, global migration patterns, and global justice are all examined in this way in terms of how they become embodied in diverse ecologies of sickness and health.

ANTH 101 Exploring Sociocultural Anthropology (I&S) [5 credits]
ANTH 323/LSJ 321 Human Rights Law in Culture and Practice (I&S) [5 credits]
ANTH 345/GWSS 345/JSIS B 345 Women and International Economic Development (I&S) [5 credits]
ANTH 371/ENVIR 371 Anthropology of Development (I&S) [5 credits]
ANTH 415 Anthropology and International Health (I&S) [5 credits]
ANTH 474 Social Difference and Medical Knowledge (I&S) [5 credits]
BIO A 465/NUTR 465 Nutritional Anthropology (I&S, NW) [3 credits]
BIO A 476 Sociocultural Ecology and Health (NW) [3 credits]
CHID 222 BioFutures (I&S, NW) [5 credits]
GEOG 123/JSIS 123 Introduction to Globalization (I&S) [5 credits]
GEOG 230 Geographies of Global Inequality (I&S) [5 credits]
GEOG 344/JSIS B 344 Migration in the Global Economy (I&S) [5 credits]
JSIS 201 The Making of the 21st Century (I&S) [5 credits]
JSIS B 331 Political Economy of Development (I&S) [5 credits]
LSJ 320/POL S 368 The Politics and Law of International Human Rights (I&S) [5 credits]
SOC 331 Population and Society (I&S) [5 credits]

(D) Regional and Area Studies

The classes in category D introduce the insights of international and area studies into the Global Health Minor. Since global health policies and practices have to be developed with a robust recognition of regional particularities and context-contingent experiences of global ties, the classes in this category enable students to develop expertise in particular world regions, countries and continents.

Students must select at least one course from the lists below:

General
ANTH 471 Colonialism and Culture (I&S) [5 credits]

Africa
ANTH 313 Peoples of Africa (I&S) [5 credits]
HSTAFM 151 Introduction to African History, c. 1000-1880 (I&S) [5 credits]
HSTAFM 152 Introduction to African History, c. 1880-Present (I&S) [5 credits]
HSTAFM 453 Health and Illness in Africa (I&S) [5 credits]

Asia
ANTH 316/JSIS A 316 Modern South Asia (I&S) [5 credits]
ANTH 339/GWSS 339/JSIS A 339 Social Movements in Contemporary India [5 credits]
ANTH 406/JSIS A 406 China’s Environment (I&S) [5 credits]
ANTH 442/GWSS 446/JSIS A 452 Global Asia (I&S) [5 credits]
GEOG 336 Development and Challenge in China (I&S) [5 credits]
HSTAS 245/JSIS A 245 Human Rights in Asia (I&S) [5 credits]
HSTAS 404 History of Twentieth-Century India (I&S) [5 credits]
HSTAS 463 Southeast Asian History from 1800 to Present (I&S) [5 credits]
JSIS A 206 Contemporary India & Pakistan (I&S) [5 credits]
JSIS A 431/SOC 434 Demographic Issues in Asia (I&S) [3-5 credits]
SOC 470 Contemporary Southeast Asia (I&S) [5 credits]

Eurasia
ANTH 425/JSIS A 427 Anthropology of the Post-Soviet States (I&S) [5 credits]
COM 425/JSIS A 425 European Media System (I&S) [5 credits]
ECON 495 Economies in Transition (I&S) [5 credits] Prerequisite: ECON 301
JSIS A 420 Post-Soviet Security (I&S) [5 credits]

The Americas
ANTH 404 South America (I&S) [5 credits]
HSTLAC 282 Social History of Mexico (I&S) [5 credits]
HSTLAC 385 Colonial Society and the Negotiation of Rule in Latin America and the Caribbean (I&S, DIV) [5 credits]
HSTLAC 386 The Challenges of Post-Coloniality in Latin America and the Caribbean (I&S, DIV) [5 credits]
HSTLAC 481 History of Peru and the Andean Region (I&S) [5 credits]
HSTLAC 482 The History of Brazil: Colonial Period to the Present (I&S) [5 credits]
JSIS A 322/POL S 322 International Political Economy of Latin America (I&S) [5 credits]
JSIS A 342/POL S 342 Government and Politics of Latin America (I&S) [5 credits]
JSIS A 355/SOC 355 Social Change in Latin America (I&S) [5 credits]

Middle East
ANTH 318 Peoples and Cultures of the Islamic Middle East (I&S) [3 credits]
HSTAFM 163 The Modern Middle East (I&S) [5 credits]
JSIS A 402 The Middle East in the Modern World (I&S) [5 credits]

Note: The Department of Global Health will revise the list of elective courses according to course availability, new course offerings, etc. Students are encouraged to check the website quarterly for the most up-to-date list of elective course offerings.