HEALTH CARE DELIVERY

Sociology/Anthropology/African Studies 248 C (5.4 credits)
Prof. Wairimu Ndirangu
Dates : May 30- June 27, 2009
Program fee:  $4,500. Airfare not included.

This community-based learning course explores critical issues about health care in a resource constrained environment. What formal and informal institutions are most effective in providing preventive and primary health care? How can communities develop participatory approaches to the management of HIV and other diseases? Why do highly preventable diseases still continue to burden Africans? What are the belief systems and health-seeking behaviors in different populations, both rural and urban? How can traditional healing practices complement western medical approaches to disease? Health care professionals and researchers will address these and other issues. Students will be placed in clinics, teaching hospitals, and community health programs, contributing to the work of the organization while assessing its role in the broader provision of health care. The course will be of interest to students concerned about economic justice, social welfare, and health.