MPH2031 - Public health policy

Leader: Professor V Lin

Offered

Alfred Hospital First semester 2008 (Day)

Synopsis

Health policy. Governmental institutions and their roles in public health. Legislative processes and the participants in them. Initiation and formulation of policy. Planning. Common approaches. Stakeholders and their role in public health planning. Institutional imperatives in the planning process. Strategies for influencing the development of public health plans. Case studies. Public health plans and the planning at State, regional and local levels. Processes of development, implementation and evaluation.

Objectives

The purpose of this unit is to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to participate competently in the development, implementation, and analysis of health policy at a level appropriate to a general public health practitioner, and with an introduction to various forms of health planning.
On completion of this unit students should be able to:

1. Describe the major state, national and international institutions and arrangements through which health policy is made;
2. Describe the contemporary policy environment within which health policy making takes place;
3. Demonstrate familiarity with the arguments and the politics associated with major contemporary health policy issues;
4. Demonstrate competence in policy analysis, policy development and policy advocacy in relation to important public health issues.

Assessment

Assignments 100%

Contact hours

2 contact hours per week at Melbourne University

Prohibitions

Students completing MPH2031 cannot undertake MPH2069