Our master's degree program is organized around key content areas:
Emergencies and Disaster Management
Nutrition and Food Security
Infectious Diseases and HIV/AIDS
Reproductive Health and Population
Policies, Programs and Management
Monitoring and Evaluation
Emergencies and Disaster Management The past decade has seen a dramatic rise in the incidence of public health emergencies caused by violent conflict and environmental crises. Additionally, technological emergencies, weapons of mass destruction and other man-made emergencies are increasingly recognized to be a risk to international public health. Complex emergencies (CE's), which entail some degree of violent conflict and forced migration, now affect most regions of the world. Directly or indirectly, CEs affect nearly all countries of sub-Saharan Africa, several transitional nations that were previously part of the Soviet Union or Soviet Block, and numerous countries in Asia and the Middle East. The risk of large-scale CE's is also evident in several Latin American countries where low-intensity conflict is endemic. Natural hazards such as floods, earthquakes and droughts are a recurrent source of public health emergencies due to environmental risks and inadequate disaster response capacity. Currently, the program emphasizes the development of practical and conceptual skills required to manage the public health/nutritional aspects of disasters and complex emergencies. The Department has been able to accommodate students whose interests lie in the area of technological crises and terrorism threats through special studies courses, on-line courses offered by other universities, research and study based at the Payson Center, and special internship placements.
Participants who choose this concentration will be able to: - Analyze the basic and underlying causes of emergencies
- Identify key policies and program interventions to prevent, mitigate, respond to and recover from emergencies
- Design and manage appropriate interventions in the public health/nutrition sectors in different stages of emergencies and in varying contexts
- Evaluate the adequacy of relief efforts in the public health/nutrition sectors
- Identify management, surveillance and early warning information and strategies to implement information systems.
Participants are strongly encouraged to acquire methodological skills related to survey design/analysis, qualitative and quantitative program evaluation, and information management as these are areas of particularly high demand in emergency management. The program also emphasizes the use of a variety of Internet tools for emergency management training and knowledge management. Because of the nature of crises, effective management typically requires a capacity for rapid preparation. Participants are therefore urged to develop a strong familiarity with the loci of expertise and the web tools that have proven to be invaluable to field program managers.
Faculty contact:
Nancy Mock, DrPH
Infectious Diseases and HIV/AIDS This concentration is designed to provide students with opportunities to develop substantive knowledge and expertise in the area of infectious diseases in developing countries. The primary foci involve topics related to HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, though other communicable diseases such as other sexually transmitted diseases, schistosomiasis, and other viral, bacterial and helminthes are also included.
In addition to courses offered within the department, other departments -- Epidemiology and Tropical Medicine-offer additional courses and provide a strong interdisciplinary focus. Students have opportunities to develop practical skills in the design, implementation, and evaluation of programs intended to prevent or minimize risk of disease. Students also critically review leading models of treatment and develop skills in survey design, data analysis and presentation.
Students selecting this concentration will develop (depending on their choice of courses):
- A strong knowledge base about the main infectious diseases facing populations in developing countries, including their causes and consequences;
- A basic understanding of biology of the main communicable diseases;
- A skills base for infectious disease program design and implementation;
- Knowledge of programmatic issues specifically related to prevention, control and treatment of infectious diseases
- Mastery of principles for monitoring and evaluating infectious disease interventions;
- An analytic perspective on contemporary policy debates, and the influence of these debates on program implementation;
- Quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis skills specific to infectious disease interventions.
Faculty Contacts:
Carl Kendall, PhD, and Kate Macintyre, PhD
Nutrition and Food Security This concentration prepares students to pursue careers working on improving the nutrition and food security of populations. The program prepares professionals for an international career, providing a global perspective on nutritional problems (especially general and micronutrient malnutrition) faced by varying populations around the world. Malnutrition resulting from poverty --mainly in poor but also in industrialized countries-- is the prime focus. Students having an interest in emerging public health frequently combine nutrition and complex emergencies studies.
The faculty provides practical examples of nutrition problems and program strategies based on their extensive research and consulting experience in Africa, Asia, Latin America, countries of the former Soviet Union, and the United States. The curriculum emphasizes the development of conceptual and methodological skills through practical work in assessment analysis and program and policy planning using case studies and data sets from around the world. Students develop skills and acquire knowledge that enable them to be effective problem solvers, either as managers or investigators.
Students choosing this concentration will learn to: - Execute situation/epidemiologic needs assessments of problems and their causes - including food insecurity and general and micronutrient malnutrition
- Undertake analysis and design of public nutrition and food security programs
- Analyze the basis for effective policies and their design
- Evaluate the impact and efficiency of public nutrition and food security interventions on nutritional outcomes.
Students also acquire hand-on experience in data management, analysis, and presentation. Graduates of this program are working in a variety of roles: Africa Regional Director, Helen Keller International; Director of Nutrition, US Public Health Department, Indian Health Services; Food Aid Coordinator, USAID Madagascar; Nutrition Advisor, World Health Organization; Nutrition Advisor, World Bank; Nutritionist, Louisiana State Health Department. For more information, visit the International Nutrition website http://www.tulane.edu/~internut.
Faculty contact:
John Mason, PhD Reproductive Health and Population
This concentration is designed to provide students with opportunities to develop expertise in the major reproductive health problems facing women and men in developing countries. The primary substantive foci involve topics related to family planning and HIV/AIDS.
Students will have opportunities to develop practical skills in the design, implementation, and evaluation of reproductive health programs for developing countries, as well as research skills in survey design and analysis, demographic measurement, and qualitative research techniques.
Students selecting this concentration will develop (depending on their choice of courses): - A strong knowledge base about the main reproductive health problems affecting women and men in developing countries, including their causes and consequences;
- A basic understanding of the field of demography and demographic measurement;
- An analytic perspective on contemporary policy debates, and the influence of these debates on program implementation;
- A skills base for program design and implementation;
- Mastery of principles for monitoring and evaluating reproductive health interventions
- Quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis skills.
Faculty Contact:
Anastasia (Stacey) Gage, PhD
Policies, Programs and Management This concentration provides students with the knowledge and skills to participate in program design, management and evaluation, and to understand the major issues that influence the development and implementation of international health policy. The skills acquired can be applied to health care delivery systems in both the public and private sphere. Emphasis is on the applied aspects of policy and management. Because the department attracts students with a large range of experience, we try to design each course so that each individual's level of experience and background can be reflected in the projects completed for the course.
This skills concentration area is flexible, and students based in other concentrations may take courses in the policy and management concentration that stand-alone and have no prerequisites. Students may also opt to take relevant courses in any department in the school, or from other schools in the University, providing the courses meet with the approval of the student's advisor within the concentration. Several of the courses listed are quantitative nature, therefore a good grounding in statistics is highly recommended.
Students choosing this concentration will develop knowledge and skills in (depending on specific courses): - Project and program design, implementation and evaluation
- Decision modeling using a variety of computer programs
- Practical aspects of information systems
- Supply-side and demand-side approaches to economic evaluation
- Accounting, budgeting and other relevant skills for effective financial management
- Communication and presentation for policy analysis
- Process and evolution of primary health care (PHC) and essential health packages (EHP); their implementation and management
- Analytical perspectives on international agencies involved health policy reform
- Issues in health reform: financing, pricing and cost containment applications
- Ethical issues in international health policy and management
- Contemporary approaches to human resource development
Students interested primarily in management training for international programs will be organizing their programs in consultation with faculty from both IHD and Health Systems Management.
Faculty contacts:
Kate Macintyre, PhD
Monitoring and Evaluation
This concentration prepares students for careers as epidemiologists and field researchers in international health programs, especially as program evaluation researchers and information systems specialists. The concentration builds upon the Department's experience and expertise in applied field research and evaluation.
Students who choose this concentration will learn how to:
- Identify research methodologies and applications commonly used in field studies;
- Design and implement population based field surveys;
- Design and use data collection systems for health surveillance;
- Apply appropriate statistical techniques
Students will also learn:
- about different types of evaluation and primary sources of data for each;
- How to plan an evaluation, given a set of informational needs
- to identify appropriate and feasible data collection strategies for evaluation;
- to design a basic information system for a program area of interest.
Faculty contacts:
Dominique Meekers, PhD, and Nancy B. Mock, DrPH
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