Degree Type:
Master of PhilosophyDepartment:
Department of Population and HealthModes of Study:
RegularAbout Programme:
Since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) of Cairo, 1994, there has been a new orientation towards the interface of population and development, a perspective which has been reinforced in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The nature of other demographic variables namely fertility, migration (both internal and international), and urbanization have also undergone transformation with changes in national and global development. For instance, levels of fertility in some African countries have declined very fast, some have plateaued, while others have remained high within the last two decades. Mortality, especially among children has also declined. Among the population agenda are identifying strategies, processes and indicators in population which can be used to assess the achievement of the MDG which cover a wide range of demographic variables.
The spread of diseases in time and space, perception of aetiology of diseases, attitudes to and health seeking behaviours are functions of individual and collective attributes of a group of people. Changes in socio-economic conditions and demographic characteristics give rise to a number of health challenges such as obesity, sexually transmitted infections, emergence of new diseases (e.g. Ebola, avian flu and SARS) and those associated with ageing. The proportion of the population aged 65 years and above is rising due to increases in expectation of life as a result of improved health facilities, sanitation and changes in diets. One outcome of longevity is the emergence of degenerative diseases. Current thinking in population education is to train students who have analytical skills in both technical and substantive demography. The essential skills include analytical skills for data collection, management and analysis, problem-solving skills and decision-making skills which involve ability to weigh options and take decisions. There is also the need for a generation of students who can be critical in their analysis of population and health interface as well as interested in life-long learning as professionals in the field of population. Teaching and learning, will be geared towards the development of such skills which will enable them contribute to the search for strategies for the socio-economic development of the country.
Objectives
The main objective of the programme is to undertake teaching and research in population science and social dimensions of health at the graduate level. The focus will be on aspects of technical and substantive demography and the socio-political and economic dimensions of population and health. The specific objectives are to: provide avenues for students to develop analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills in population and socio-cultural and economic aspects of health; promote research relating to the interface of population and socio-cultural dimensions of health; and produce the next generation of academics in population, development and social dimensions of health.
Entry Requirements:
Candidates to this programme must have obtained at least Second Class in one of the following areas: Population, Health, Geography, Economics, Sociology, Development Studies, Government, Business Management, Biological, Physical or Agricultural Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics
Target group
The target groups for the programme are graduates from any field who are interested in the interface of population and socio-economic aspects of health
Career Opportunities:
The goal of the programme is to contribute to the preparation of the next generation of graduates specializing in teaching and research in population and the social dimensions of health.
Programme Structure
Level 800
First Semester
POH 801S: PERSPECTIVES ON POPULATION AND HEALTH
The course focuses on the interface between population, health and development; history and development of population science as a discipline and the perspectives on population and development and thoughts which have shaped population science; Developments in social-political dimensions of health, including the influences of perspectives on aspects of health and human welfare. Other issues which will be addressed are discourse on the interface of population, health and development; role of international bodies in shaping the directions of health (e.g. role of World Health Organization, the Almaty Declaration of 1978, and the health targets in the Sustainable Development Goals); the environment-health-development debates, the epidemiological transition, concept of quality of life, and the implication of climate change for health.
Objectives: By the end of the course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate understanding of some the theoretical issues under-pinning the study of population and health;
- Develop analytical skills and
- Apply knowledge gained in the analysis of concepts and issues
Mode of Delivery:The course will be delivered through lectures, individual and group assignments, assigned readings and field trips
POH 802S: TECHNIQUES AND INDICES IN POPULATION AND HEALTH
The course involves interpretation of population and health data. It covers the assessment of the quality and quantity of data using indices (e.g. Myers and Whipple’s) and aggregation and dis-aggregation of data; smoothening of age and sex data; calculation of basic indices such as rates and ratios of socio-demographic variables (e.g. age, sex, marital status, education); direct and indirect measures of fertility and mortality; Brass techniques and Bongaarts’ method; use of Lexis diagram; population estimation and projections, adjustment of data, construction of life tables, construction of indices such as human development index, gender empowerment index, and disability adjusted life years.
Objectives: The objectives of the course are to:
1. Build the analytical and computational skills of students; and
2. Develop the capacity of students in techniques of data analysis and interpretation.
Mode of Delivery: Lectures, group and individual assignments and presentations in class; practical work involving calculations of indices
POH 803S: POPULATION, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH
The course deals with the dynamics between population and environment; accompanying trade-offs between land use and health in Africa. Themes discussed include urbanisation; sustainable development; agricultural and industrial practices; pollution; deforestation and afforestation; distribution and competition for resources; health of migrants; emerging and re-emerging human diseases and community involvement in health service delivery.
Objectives: By the end of the course the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate an overall understanding of the population-environment-health nexus; and
- Apply knowledge gained to "real world" situations
Mode of Delivery: The content will be delivered through lectures, guest lectures, individual and group presentations and assigned readings.
POH 805S: POPULATION MOVEMENTS
The course deals with conceptual and theoretical issues in population movements. It covers historical and contemporary perspectives of both voluntary and involuntary migration with particular emphasis on causes and consequences of population movements in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa; refugee movements, transnationalism and irregular migration. Other issues include mobility and its health implications. The course also discusses migration within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the policies and programme implications at both origin and destination.
Objective: The course will build the capacity of students to:
- Understand and appreciate the dynamics involved in human population movements in both the past and contemporary; and
- Analyse the implications of population movements on the socio-economic development of both places of origin and destination.
Mode of Delivery: The mode of delivery will be lectures, individual and group presentations.
POH 807S: SOCIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
The course involves analysis of the distribution of diseases in space; social, cultural and psychological determinants of risk behaviour and occurrence of diseases. Other topics are perception of risk, relationships between population, society and individual characteristics and morbidity and mortality. It focuses on the principles and their applications for the investigation of public and social health problems, planning, implementation and evaluation of health intervention strategies. The following areas will be covered: social determinants of health, , transition of communicable diseases, concept of causality, epidemiological study design, clinical trial designs, estimation of risk, screening and evaluation of diagnostic test, and standardization of rates.
Objective: The objectives of the course are to develop the capacity of students to:
- Understand the concepts, principles and methods of social epidemiology
- Apply social epidemiology on issues in population and health.
Mode of delivery: Lectures, presentations and group discussions.
POH 809S: URBANISATION AND HEALTH IN AFRICA
The course deals with the historical development and contemporary issues of urbanization in the world generally and sub-Saharan Africa in particular. It includes definitions of urbanization, models and conceptual issues in urbanization such as primate city, rank-size rule, conurbations, morphology of cities, resource utilisation and related human activities such as access to different modes of transportation, education, health, housing, sanitation, arts and cultural heritage, economic, business and job creation activities and healthy urban lifestyles in general.
Other aspects are measures of urban change and growth and the role of urbanization in national development, urban poverty and inequality, slums, violence and conflict, governance and participation, resilient cities and sustainable urbanization.
Objective: The objectives are to develop the capacity of students to:
- Analyse issues associated with the process of urbanization
- Appraise the implications of urbanization on the socio-economic development of urban centres.
Mode of Delivery: This course will be delivered through lectures, seminars and group discussions.
POH 811S: STATISTICS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES
The course involves intermediate statistical techniques and their application to social science issues. Topics to be discussed include nature and meaning of statistics, measures of central tendency and dispersion, probability, time series, normal distribution, sampling techniques, testing of hypothesis, correlation and regression analysis. Students will be introduced to packages such as SPSS and STATA.
Objective: The objectives of the course are to equip students to:
- Develop analytical skills in social science research
- Analyse and interpret statistical data in social sciences.
Mode of delivery:The course will be delivered through lectures, practical exercises and presentations.
POH 813S: MIGRATION AND HEALTH
This course covers some concepts and theoretical perspectives on the relationships between migration and health in both the past and contemporary era. It examines both communicable and non-communicable health issues among both voluntary and involuntary migrants, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa but some examples will be drawn from developed countries as well to expose students to the global context. The implications of migrants’ health to both places of origin and destination will be examined. It also situates migration and health within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. Relevant case studies will be emphasized on to enhance students’ understanding of the synergies between migration and health.
Objective: The course will build the capacity of students to:
- Understand the relationships between migration and health in both the past and contemporary; and
- Analyse the implications of migrants’ health to the socio-economic development of both places of origin and destination.
Mode of Delivery: The mode of delivery will be lectures, individual and group presentations.
POH 815S: GLOBAL HEALTH
The course focuses on strategies for health improvement, reduction of health disparities as well as protection against global threats that cut across national boundaries. Issues to discuss will include global health and poverty, economic development, peace and security, communicable and non-communicable diseases, social and spatial dimensions of health and their impact on disparities in the burden of diseases, the impact of climate change on health, and risk factors.
Objective: The aim of the course is to develop the capacity of students to:
- Understand concepts and perspectives on global health; and
- Analyze social and spatial dimensions of health and their impact on disparities in the burden of diseases.
Mode of Delivery: The course is delivered through lectures, case studies analyses, individual and group presentations.
Second Semester
POH 804S: POPULATION POLICIES, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS
The course deals with concepts and processes involved in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of population, reproductive health and rights policies and programmes. It examines the historical perspectives in the development of population policies, concepts in (population) policy formulation, the factors which contributed to these developments; international agenda which have shaped concepts, policies and programmes in reproductive health and rights (e.g. Almaty Declaration of 1978, Cairo and Beijing Conferences), the implications of these developments for issues of population and reproductive health and rights. Among the topics to be discussed are definition of policy, population, reproductive health and rights; policy formulation – approaches; concept of heath as a right. Population policies of Ghana, beginning with the pre-independence period to the present, and selected African countries will be discussed.
Objectives: At the end of the course the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the conceptual issues in policy formulation;
- Analyse the factors which have shaped population and health policies in Ghana and in selected African countries; and
- Relate the knowledge gained to policy formulation in population and social dimensions of health.
Mode of Delivery: The course will be delivered through lectures, team teaching and presentation of individual and group assignments
POH 806S: NATURAL POPULATION CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT
The course provides an overview of the levels, patterns and trends in nuptiality, fertility, morbidity and mortality and their implications for development. Issues covered include historical, spatial patterns and socio-cultural dimensions associated with population dynamics. It will also involve theoretical and empirical dimensions of the changes at the global, continental and national levels with emphasis on Ghana and Africa.
Objectives: The objectives of the course are to:
- Develop the capacity of students to be able to analyse the dynamics of natural population change.
- Equip students with the skills to analyze the various demographic perspectives on population change and development.
Mode of Delivery: The content will be delivered through lectures, guest lectures, individual and group presentations and assigned readings.
POH 808S: POLICIES AND POLITICS OF HEALTH
The course examines policies adopted to provide health care and also consider past, present and policies of health in Africa and Ghana; strategies that have informed policies and programmes in health at the global (e.g. Health for All by the Year 2000, Millennium Development Goals, Sustainable Development Goals), continental (Bamako Initiative, Maputo Declaration on HIV and AIDS) and national levels (e.g. payment regimes; health insurance) as well as other factors which influence health delivery (e.g. brain drain and emerging technologies). The topics will include: the politics of public health; the concept of public versus private participation; health policy-making process and implementation; global influences on domestic health policy formulation in sub-Saharan Africa.
Objective: At the end of the course the student will be equipped to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the conceptual issues in policy formulation
- Analyze factors which inform health policies globally and in Africa
- Relate the knowledge gained to policy formulation in health.
Mode of Delivery: This will be in the form of lectures, seminars, group discussion and case studies.
POH 810S: RESEARCH METHODS
This course deals with issues of the nature and scope of social science research (issues of epistemology, ontology and methodology). Among the topics to be covered are perspectives in social science research, concept and sources of knowledge, concept of research problem, types of research, philosophies informing quantitative and qualitative data collection, quantitative and qualitative techniques and in social science research, issues of validity, reliability, representativeness in social science research, questionnaire drawing, developing an interview guide, and ethical issues in social science research
Objectives: The objectives of the course are to:
- Build the capacity of students in social science research methodology
- Develop the skills of students to undertake quantitative and qualitative research.
Mode of Delivery : The teaching will be conducted through lectures, fieldwork, group and individual presentations.
POH 812S: CONTEMPORARY HEALTH ISSUES IN AFRICA
The course examines contemporary issues in current challenges in health, aspects of health transition in the context of the emergence of new and the re-emergence of old infections; issues of endemicity and the spread of diseases; emergence of diseases associated with life styles; management of health; financing of health care; challenges of health for an ageing population; the roles of national and multinational institutions (e.g. World Health Organization (WHO)) and international NGOs in health.
Objective: The aim of the course is to develop the capacity of students to:
- Analyse contemporary health issues in both Ghana and Africa
- Interpret and discuss population and health issues in both Ghana and Africa
Mode of Delivery:This course is delivered through lectures, presentations and group discussions.
POH 814S: URBAN HEALTH
The course deals with public health issues associated with growth of urban population in developing countries as well as the emerging middle class populations. Emphasis will be on urban health problems of developing countries; health of slum areas, affluent areas, migrants/refugees, children, the aged, and populations at high risk (e.g. CSW, MSM, IDU). Changes in urban physical and social environment and their consequences for lifestyle risks and health, design and implementation of coordinated and cost-effective health care system will be examined.
Objective: The objectives of the course are to:
- Build the capacity of students to appreciate concepts and theoretical perspectives on urban health
- Appraise policies and programmes on urban health.
Mode of Delivery: The course is delivered through lectures, case studies analyses, individual and group presentations.
POH 816S: ADVANCED EPIDEMIOLOGY
The course builds on POH 807S (Social Epidemiology). The course focuses on the philosophical and the application of theoretical issues in epidemiology, application of knowledge in epidemiology as well as critical appraisal of scientific literature from a multidisciplinary perspective. Other areas will include outbreak investigation, making use of epidemiological data to draw appropriate conclusions, and social sciences methodology to understand background and proximal factors.
Objective: The objectives of the course are to:
- Build the capacity of students in philosophical and theoretical perspectives in epidemiology
- Equip students with the knowledge and skills to analyze data in epidemiology.
Mode of Delivery: The course is delivered through lectures, case studies analyses, individual and group presentations.
POH 897: Fieldwork
This course involves fieldwork and presentation of results based on a topic chosen by the students. The students are assessed both on their presentations in class and the report/assignment submitted.
POH 899 : THESIS
Students will present a thesis in their areas of research interest. The conditions as set out in the Academic Policies and Regulations for Graduate Studies apply.