Planetary Health
| Module title | Planetary Health |
|---|---|
| Module code | HPDM122 |
| Academic year | 2023/4 |
| Credits | 15 |
| Module staff | Dr Kristin Liabo (Lecturer) Dr Jessica Bollen (Lecturer) Dr Tanimola Martins (Lecturer) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 6 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 30 |
|---|
Module description
Globally and locally, health interconnects with social practices and systems shaped by environmental, social, economic, political and cultural motivations. This module will introduce you to the emerging field of ‘planetary health’. You will learn how this field brings together environmental, health and social sciences to enhance our understanding of health and environmental inequalities. You will be taught how to consider health and wellbeing in global, social and environmental contexts. No specialist knowledge is needed for this module, although an interest in interdisciplinary learning is essential. Your learning will be assessed in group work and by an essay in which you will consider a specific public health problem through the frameworks you have been introduced to.
This module permits students to attend some or all of the face to face lectures and workshops either in person or online. Learning will also be consolidated by self directed learning resources and ELE activities.
Module aims - intentions of the module
The overarching aim of this module is to introduce you to planetary health and how knowledge from social, health and environmental sciences can contribute to a more holistic and deeper understanding of public health at local, national and global levels. You will learn how health in its widest sense and health and environmental inequalities are created, and the potential strategies for addressing them more effectively. We will cover this over 6 sessions which will vary in length and provide teaching to enhance understanding of:
- The link between local, national and global health
- The role of theory development in understanding health and environmental inequalities
- The interconnections between the health of the environment and human health, and wellbeing
- Corporate and economic determinants of health and environment
- Planetary boundaries to healthy and sustainable living
- Disease control, prevention and health promotion: why we need a global approach
- Lay understandings of health: majority and minority world perspectives
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Understand contributions made to planetary health by research in sociology, social epidemiology, environment and human health, and global health
- 2. Apply the interdisciplinary learning from the module to a case study of personal interest
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 3. Understand how health and wellbeing are conditioned by social and environmental factors
- 4. Critically appraise research papers related to planetary health
- 5. Demonstrate the interconnectedness of health and wellbeing locally, nationally and globally
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 6. Apply social and environmental understanding of human health and wellbeing to policy or practice planning in a range of context
- 7. Identify important partners or levers for change in disciplines other than ones own and on different levels of operation (macro-meso-micro)
Syllabus plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, an example of an overall structure is as follows:
By using the theme of food as the ‘golden thread’ running through all teaching sessions, students will be introduced to interdisciplinary perspectives, drawing on research studies in global health, environment and human health, medical sociology and social epidemiology.
- Introduction to the module: interdisciplinary global and local health
- Environmental, social, political and cultural drivers of health
Medical sociology/social epidemiology (local, global) – stigma, practices, culture, identity, politics.
- Global public health: interconnecting health and environmental inequalities across continents, communicable diseases and policy frameworks
Obesity global rates, corporate and economic determinants of health, food/trade/aid/development (structural adjustment, food sovereignty), healthy diets and planetary boundaries. Global drivers for disease, food sovereignty / food systems.
- Environment and human health
Introduction to basic concepts, health and environmental inequalities, antimicrobial resistance, climate and other environmental change, sustainability.
- New approaches to global and national health challenges
Nature-based solutions, salutogenic environments, therapeutic landscapes, nature-connectedness and wellbeing, “social prescribing” and other social approaches to reducing communicable and non-communicable diseases.
- Lay understandings of health and wellbeing
Considering whose voices are represented in research and policy debates on planetary health.
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | 135 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 15 | Delivered over six sessions, to include group discussion and preparation for group work. Pre-recorded lectures, resources and readings are accessed online. Each week has one live online session which is a combination of a lecture and workshop. Students are expected to work in groups to complete group work for each live session and present outputs from their work there. |
| Guided Independent Study | 65 | Session preparation and follow up work utilising resources provided on ELE |
| Guided Independent Study | 20 | Group work between sessions in preparation for presentations |
| Guided Independent Study | 50 | Reading and assignment preparation |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group presentation | 15 min in teaching sessions | 1-7 | Facilitator and peer feedback |
| Small group discussions | Throughout teaching sessions | 1-7 | Facilitator and peer feedback |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 100 | 2500 words | 1-7 | Written feedback |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay (100%) | Essay: (2500 words) | 1-7 | Typically within six weeks of the result |
Re-assessment notes
Re-assessment is in the same format as for the first attempt
Please refer to the TQA section on Referral/Deferral: http://as.exeter.ac.uk/academic-policy-standards/tqa-manual/aph/consequenceoffailure/
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Levy B, Patz J. “Climate Change and public health”. Oxford University Press, 2015. Available online Health https://oxfordmedicine.com/view/10.1093/med/9780190202453.001.0001/med-9780190202453
Raworth, K. “A doughnut for the anthropocene: humanity’s compass in the 21st Century” The Lancet Planetary Health, 2017;1(2):E48-9 https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(17)30028-1
Whitmee, S. et al (2015) “Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of the Rockefeller Foundation – Lancet Commission on planetary health. The Lancet, 386: https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2815%2960901-1
Baquero OS, Benavidez Fernández MN and Acero Aguilar M (2021) From Modern Planetary Health to Decolonial Promotion of One Health of Peripheries. Front. Public Health 9:637897. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389%2Ffpubh.2021.637897
Examples of further reading:
Atwoli L, Baqui A H, Benfield T, Bosurgi R, Godlee F, Hancocks S et al. Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health BMJ 2021; 374 :n1734 doi:10.1136/bmj.n1734
Baron et al, Feed people first: A service ecosystem perspective on innovative food waste reduction. Journal of Service Research 21 (1) 135-50. DOI: 10.1177/1094670517738372
Quantifying environmental health impacts. “Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks” WHO 2016: https://www.who.int/quantifying_ehimpacts/publications/preventing-disease/en/
Kelly, M., Russo, F. Causal narratives in public health: the difference between mechanisms of aetiology and mechanisms of prevention in nonâ??communicable diseases. In: Sociology of Health and Illness 2017, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-9566.12621 (includes a video introducing the main argument of the paper)
de Lacy-Vawdon, C., Livingstone, C. Defining the commercial determinants of health: a systematic review. BMC Public Health 2020, 20: 1022. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09126-1
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
- ELE – College to provide hyperlink to appropriate pages
- http://media.dh.gov.uk/uploads/infographic/Full%20Size%20HTML/index.html
- https://goodlife.leeds.ac.uk/about/
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals https://sdgs.un.org/goals
National Food Strategy for England 2021 https://nationalfoodstrategy.org
| Credit value | 15 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 7.5 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 7 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | Feb 2020 |
| Last revision date | 01/02/2023 |
