London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

This module provides an overview of the current health-related challenges and policy debates concerning appropriate responses to populations affected by armed conflict. It aims to equip students to apply and critique these concepts in their current and future engagements with humanitarian practice.

Intended learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the module, a student should be able to: 

• Demonstrate an understanding of the political, economic and social factors that contribute to conflict; 
• Analyse the direct and indirect effects of conflict on health and health systems; 
• Identify the actors and institutions involved in the international humanitarian system, and the management and coordination issues currently facing them; 
• Describe and critique the key policy debates currently taking place within the humanitarian field (humanitarianism, relief to development, coordination, evaluation and quality); 
• Describe the challenges of developing context-sensitive responses to public health problems (e.g. sexual and reproductive health, WASH, communicable disease, mental health, non-communicable diseases); 
• Identify and discuss key issues concerning the transition from relief to rehabilitation and the development of health systems in the context of post-conflict recovery.

Session Content

The module is expected to cover the following topics: 

• Nature and origins of different types of conflict, impact on health and health systems, and architecture of the humanitarian aid system; 
• Humanitarianism, the humanitarian principles, and ensuing ethical dilemmas; 
• Policy issues in relation to assessing needs, identifying appropriate interventions, and implementation strategies for selected disease-specific activities, including infectious diseases, water, sanitation and health, malnutrition, sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, non-communicable diseases and mental health. 
• Policy issues in relation to the quality of interventions, the promotion of evidence-based practice, and the evaluation of humanitarian assistance 
• The linkages between relief, recovery and longer-term post-conflict health system development, including health policy formulation and implementation during the initial post-conflict phase 
• A range of special sessions with external speakers on selected topics

Mode of delivery

This module is delivered predominantly face-to-face. Where specific teaching methods (lectures, seminars, discussion groups) are noted in this module specification these will be delivered by predominantly face-to-face sessions. There will be a combination of live and interactive activities (synchronous learning) as well as self-directed study (asynchronous learning).

The module consists of 10 core lectures delivered by subject experts coming from academia or humanitarian practice. These are followed by question and answer periods with lecturers. 

Lectures are complemented by optional extra sessions with expert speakers, including viewing and discussion of a film. Small group seminars give the opportunity for students to discuss and explore their own views, ideas and responses to the material presented. These include two sessions where students use case studies to practice analysis of health surveillance data, and two in which students work in groups to critique a journal article that reflects key challenges around academic evidence production in humanitarian response. Student volunteers with substantial prior experience in humanitarian response are also encouraged to present on their experiences, reflecting on key themes covered by the course. 

The remainder of the time will be spent in private study, particularly reviewing the key readings associated with core lectures

Assessment

The assessment for this module has been designed to measure student learning against the module's intended learning outcomes (ILOs) as listed above and will contribute towards the overall award GPA. 

The assessment for this module will be online and will consist of 10 written short-answer essay questions. Students will be expected to apply concepts covered in the module to their responses.

Credits

• CATS: 15
• ECTS: 7.5

Module specification

For full information regarding this module please see the module specification.