The Global Health BSc is a one-year course aims to equip students with the skills and concepts to navigate a range of quantitative and social sciences disciplines that contribute to global health scholarship. The course has an orientation towards the interpretation of quantitative and epidemiological evidence in global health, reflecting the strengths of Imperial College. However, it also explores the cultural, economic, geographical and social processes and contexts which determine health outcomes across the world. Crucially, the course aims to develop students’ critical thinking skills, and the skills and values required to reflective leadership and collaboration.
The course comprises three modules spread from September to May.
Module 1 (‘Global health in dynamic world’) is the core taught module that takes place in the first term (September to mid-December).
Module 2 includes two components (Community Group Placements and Critical Summary of the Task or Literature Review ) which are based on experiential learning and active small-group learning respectively.
During Module 3, students spend 13 weeks within a research team, developing and completing a scientific research project investigating a current issue in global health issue. This module also has an experiential learning basis and students often find this a highlight of the course, having developed a rich skillset for research. Many of our students go on to publish their work. Projects span epidemiology and public health including quantitative and qualitative, or policy aspects of the field.
Course modules
- Module one | Global health in a dynamic world
- Module two | Self-directed learning in small groups (Critical Summary of the Task/Literature Review) and individual CGP report
- Module three | BSc Research project
Community Groups Placements (CGP) experiences
In the year 2019/20, we had, students placed in groups of 2-3 placed at 10 Community based organisations (Addison Community Champions (Urban Partnership Group – UPG, Baraka Youth Association, Disability Advice Service Lambeth (dasl), Foundation for women’s health, research and development (FORWARD), Hammersmith Community Gardens Association, Myatt’s Fields Park Project, One Westminster, The Abbey Centre - Abbey Community Association Limited, Young Brent Foundation and Young Hammersmith & Fulham Foundation.
Primary care services are facing increasing pressures and cannot address the complex health needs of populations in Hammersmith.
By Amelia Kataria Golestaneh, a medical student from University of Liverpool, an intercalating BSc Global Health student at Imperial (2019/20).
I was placed at the Hammersmith Community Gardens Association (HCGA) for the Community Group Placement module. As part of the evaluation, I focused on certain cohorts within the local population (school children participating in the educational initiatives of HCGA and socially disadvantaged adults with long-term unemployment or mental health) within the Wormholt and White City ward, an area of North West London facing widespread deprivation.
Amelia’s Evaluation & Recommendations
The CBO engages with the aforementioned populations through projects which are assets to the local community and encourages personal growth, social cohesion and environmental responsibility. At the end of the placement, I proposed, 1) increasing health promotion initiatives for schoolchildren and their parents through specific newsletters and sessions with parental involvement, and 2) progress reviews for participants through a combination of the existing questionnaire and an evaluation tool, conducted with HCGA staff members, which could benefit these adults in the long-term. While there are numerous challenges regarding funding in the voluntary sector, I strongly believe that Social Prescribing is an important area in health that requires the rebranding and reshaping of how health professionals assess need and target more deprived populations in a sustainable and equitable way.
What Amelia learnt from this opportunity
The placement has vastly aided my understanding of Social Prescribing and the importance of creating a cultural change for activism that is values based. The role of Social Prescribing, in my opinion, is crucial to how we can better manage complex patient situations that are often inadequately managed in primary care due to short appointments, stretched resources and sometimes a lack of coordination with other services. This is an area of medicine which requires thoughtful teaching permeating into medical school curriculums, reimagining of how we perceive ‘hard to reach’ populations, and a concerted effort as a multidisciplinary health team is more important than ever.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
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- Studying Global Health in London
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Find out more
Admissions enquiries
Nicole Barnes
feo.bsc@imperial.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 8383 1071
General enquiries
Beatrix Rozsa
bscglobalhealth@imperial.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 7594 8967