The focus of our International Health Programme is on poverty-related health problems in low and middle income countries. In order to make health services accessible to the people who need them most, there is a need in many developing countries to improve health policy, to make organization, planning and management more efficient at all levels of the delivery system, and to ensure sustainable financing. For all of this, generating reliable information through applied research is essential. The Master of Science course in International Health (MScIH) at Heidelberg University was developed with these factors in mind.
The overall aim of the program is to provide students with a solid foundation in international public health principles and with competency in using the tools and methods necessary to initiate and run programs that improve the health of poor populations in an efficient, sustainable and equitable way.
The MScIH is a modular programme consisting of three parts, each accounting for 20 ECTS (= European Credit Transfer System): •Core Course -providing a basic overview on essential topics in International Health •Advanced Modules -offering more in-depth learning on selected topics •Thesis -allowing for guided individual research work with a personally flexible choice. The MScIH programme can be completed in a one-year Residential Track (full-time), with a fixed set of Advanced Modules taken at Heidelberg, or from one to five years in the European Track (tropEd: the European Network for Higher Education in International Health), allowing for part-time studies and an individual choice of Advanced Modules offered within the tropEd network. Before entering the programme, the candidate must decide which track to follow.
Core Course: The Core Course is taken by all students. It introduces the student to the vast field of International Health and aims at providing the student with a solid foundation.
Learning Objectives Core Courses: After the completion of the core course, students should be able to • Critically collect, analyse and appraise qualitative and quantitative data relevant for the improvement of health and health care in low and middle income societies. • Identify and analyse interrelated determinants of health and major health problems of populations in a cross-disciplinary perspective in low- and middle income societies. • Plan sustainable improvements of health systems considering the diverse intercultural settings as well as social and ethical responsibilities. • Clearly communicate and work professionally in a multi-disciplinary team Residential track: After successful completion of the core course, residential track students immediately enter a fixed set of Advanced Modules (six compulsory modules and one elective): Compulsory Modules • Reproductive Health Services and HIV/AIDS – New Evidence and Strategy • Disease Control: Policies and Strategies • Proposal Writing Targeting International Donors • Advanced Research Methods in International Health • Improving the Quality of Healthcare Services • Leadership and Change Management
Plus one of the following modules: • Financing Health Care – Principles of Insurance • Medical Anthropology as a Tool for Public Health • Evaluation of Health Programmes and Projects European Track( tropEd)
European track students select a number of advanced modules, which may be taken at various partner institutions and in total are equivalent to at least 20 ECTS (about 4 months of full-time study). To comply to tropEd rules, from these 20 ECTS • a maximum of 5 ECTS may be gained at Heidelberg • a maximum of 5 ECTS may be gained by distance learning • a minimum of 10 ECTS have to be gained outside of Germany. This attribute of the programme provides students with extensive exposure to other students and researchers in the field of IH, the possibility to study at renowned institutions worldwide and facilitates future networking. The advanced modules are individually selected by participants based on their interests and needs. The choice is tutored and guided by the MScIH management team. The thesis is done with Heidelberg.

Full time: EUR 14.095; Part time: Core course, thesis and final exam EUR 7.863 + fees for advanced modules at tropEd partner institutions (average total cost ca. EUR 6.000; different fees for modules apply within the network)

Contact University of Heidelberg Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health Teaching Unit Im Neuenheimer Feld 324 D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
MScIH Administration & Registration:
Sandra Dannenberg
Tel: +49 (0)6221 5649 05
Fax: +49 (0)6221 5649 18
Email: MSc_IH@uni-heidelberg.de
Internet: Click here or here

At the end of the course the participants will
1. have demonstrated a solid understanding of the impact of culturally constructed ideas on concepts of health and illness in different social settings
Specific objectives:
1.1. locate the impact of cosmology on ideas of health and illness
1.2. examine how different concepts of the body lead to a different evaluation of health care measurements
1.3. employ the impact of gender, hierarchy and class on health care matters
1.4. define the cultural matrix of ritual healing
1.5. recognise biomedicine as a cultural system

2. be able to use ethnographic methods in order to identify culturally constructed ideas on health, illness and the body
Specific objectives:
2.1. Conduct structured and semi structured interviews and abstract different culturally informed explanatory models (EM) of health and illness.
2.2. Collect illness narratives
2.3. Combine qualitative methods (ethnography) with quantitative methods.

3. know how to apply the collected data and information to gain a better understanding of specific health care problems and apply the results in health care management issues
Specific objectives:
3.1. Define the relationship between culturally informed explanatory models and health seeking behaviour and define strategies for a better health care management
3.2. Utilise information on illness beliefs and concepts of the body to contextualise health care problems and apply them in practice.

Content:

• Medical Anthropology and Public Health
• Medical systems as cultural systems
• The body as a cultural construct
• Explanatory models and health seeking behaviour
• Methods in Medical Anthropology: combining qualitative and quantitative methods
• Medical pluralism
• Indigenous and traditional medicine; patients and healers; health and cosmology, ritual and religious healing
• STDs and HIV/AIDS culturally contextualised

The course uses ethnographic case studies from the field of Medical Anthropology in order to create an understanding of culturally constructed concepts of illness and disease. Drawing on a range of sources from different countries, including Europe, the manifold connections between culture and health are explored. On the basis of these case studies the methods of Medical Anthropology are explained and their usefulness and applicability for health care issues are demonstrated.

Natascha Petersen Programme Manager Short Courses in International Health Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health
Tel: +49 (0)6221 56 50 48
Fax: +49 (0)6221 56 49 18
E-mail: petersen@uni-hd.de
Internet: http://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/MedAnthro.107501.0.html

After successful completion of the course, participants should be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the principles of improving and assuring quality in health care systems and services globally and locally
• Describe a global overview of quality management activities in different regions of the world with different stakeholders
• Understand trends of quality promotion and evaluation models in Europe and critically analyse their transferability
• Describe the basic principles and processes for evaluating health services’ quality including accreditation, certification and licensing
• Describe key aspects of implementing quality management within an organization or in a national health system including strategic management of change
• Apply relevant theories and tools to an identified quality issue within a specific area.

Natascha Petersen Programme Manager Short Courses in International Health Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health
Tel: +49 (0)6221 56 50 48
Fax: +49 (0)6221 56 49 18
E-mail: petersen@uni-hd.de
Internet: http://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/QualManagement.8021.0.html

Tel: +49 (0)6221 56 70 65
Fax: +49 (0)6221 56 49 18
E-mail: Natascha.Petersen@URZ.Uni-Heidelberg.de
Internet: http://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/UnstablePop.8020.0.html

• Identify the internal and external drivers of change for health care organizations,
• Assess organizational barriers to change, and
• Plan and implement organizational change strategies, while ensuring essential services are maintained.

Natascha Petersen Programme Manager Short Courses in International Health Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health
Tel: +49 (0)6221 56 50 48
Fax: +49 (0)6221 56 49 18
E-mail: petersen@uni-hd.de
Internet: http://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/Leadership-and-Change-Management.9185.0.html

• The course begins with the history of reproductive health along its historical development.
• It includes an overview on the concept of sexual and reproductive health and the changes and adaptations it has undergone from Cairo to the Millennium Development Goals and their impact on the international development agenda in sexual and reproductive health.
• This is followed by the implemental issues related to safe motherhood, family planning and STI program in developing countries.
• The particular focus will be given to operational strategy of VCT, PMTCT and ART services.
• The core of the course is devoted to methods for improving and managing reproductive health in the health system with a particular focus on appropriate indicators, planning process and service provision. Considerable attention is also given to the role of PMTCT and ART in relation to SRH.

Natascha Petersen Programme Manager Short Courses in International Health Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health
Tel: +49 (0)6221 56 50 48
Fax: +49 (0)6221 56 49 18
E-mail: petersen@uni-hd.de
Internet: ttp://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/ReproHealth.108374.0.html

• die Ursachen und Auswirkungen von HIV/AIDS auf das Individuum, die lokale Gemeinschaft und spezifische Zielgruppen in ihrem Arbeitsumfeld sowie die Gesellschaft insgesamt analysieren,
• die spezifische Vulnerabilität von verschiedenen Gruppen der Gesellschaft erkennen,
• unterschiedliche Zielgruppen bei der Entwicklung von sinnvollen, effizienten und nachhaltigen Antworten unterstützen.

Spezifische Lernziele zu: HIV/AIDS – Kontrolle in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit:

• Elemente eines Projektantrages in HIV/AIDS formulieren,
• internationale Informationsquellen systematisch erschließen,
• die Bedeutung der multisektoralen AIDS Kontrolle erläutern,
• die internationalen Mechanismen der Zusammenarbeit und Förderung erläutern.

Dr. Florian Neuhann
Email: EH.Kurs@URZ.Uni-Heidelberg.de

Hilde Gold-Feuchtmüller
Abteilung Tropenhygiene und Öffentliches Gesundheitswesen
EH-Kurs
Im Neuenheimer Feld 324
D-69120 Heidelberg
Tel: +49 (0)6221 56 29 04
Fax: +49 (0)6221 56 49 18
Email: EH.Kurs@URZ.Uni-Heidelberg.de
Internet: http://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/Multisektorale-Arbeit-in-HIV-AIDS.9212.0.html

Erfolgreiche Teilnehmer können nach Abschluß:
- An der Entwicklung von Gesundheitssystemen und der Organisation von Gesundheitsdiensten bewusst und gezielt mitwirken.
- An der lokalen Anpassung des Gesundheitsdienstsystems bewusst und gezielt mitwirken.
- An der Entwicklung und Durchführung von Präventionsprogrammen bewusst und gezielt mitwirken.
- Zur effizienten Kontrolle Endemischer Erkrankungen unter erschwerten Bedingungen bewusst und gezielt beitragen.
- Als Erwachsene effizient lernen (und lehren).

Hilde Gold-Feuchtmüller
EH-Kurs
Tel: +49 (0)6221 56 29 04
Fax: +49 (0)6221 56 49 18
Email: EH.Kurs@URZ.Uni-Heidelberg.de
Internet: http://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/Entwicklungshelferkurse.7086.0.html

Content Overview:

• The historical evolution of the Evaluation of Health Projects and Programmes in the respective country
• The landscape of international agencies and national actors in the health sector • Effective writing techniques
• Principles and processes of health care sector evaluation
• Basic skills of an evaluator as a team member
• Important considerations in the design of a consultancy unit
• Peer assessment of evaluation

Objectives At the end of the course the participants will be able to:

• Evaluate a health service project or programme and write an evaluation report for a Ministry of Health and a funding agency
• Describe the health care sector of the country in which the evaluation takes place
• Apply the principles of effective writing on evaluations
• Describe the basic principles and processes for the evaluation of health projects and programmes
• Explain basic skills to evaluate a project or programme as a team
• Demonstrate knowledge about the important steps to set up a consultancy unit

Natascha Petersen Programme Manager Short Courses in International Health Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health
Tel: +49 (0)6221 56 50 48
Fax: +49 (0)6221 56 49 18
E-mail: petersen@uni-hd.de
Internet: http://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/CS-I.107898.0.html

Content Overview

• The historical evolution of the health sector in the respective country
• The landscape of international agencies and national actors in the health sector
• Effective proposal writing techniques
• Planning methodologies and instruments
• Case studies from low income countries for the different group exercises
• Peer assessment of project proposal documents

Objectives At the end of the course the participants will be able to:

• Develop and write a project proposal targeting international donors.
• Describe the health sector of the country in which the proposal will be developed
• Describe different approaches to planning
• Define and apply the principles of effective writing of a project proposa
• Describe the principles of assessment and evaluation of proposals

This course of study covers the general concepts and principles of human rights, their relationship to, and impact within the health