ENVS 580 - Ecology of Health

Institution:

University of Pennsylvania

Subject:

Description:

Sheehan. Movements of people and populations in various historic periods have led to the introduction of diseases new to a population. The colonial period, for example, witnessed the introduction of smallpox to the Americas by European colonizers, resulting in the decimation of indigenous populations. Accompanying changes in agricultural practices, ecological destruction, and changes introduced by war, development, and trade often led to altered habitat, diet, and disease patterns that threatened both colonizers and the colonized. Today, rapid and easy movement of individuals and goods around the globe, as well as new technologies, continued status inequality between rich and poor nations, and sociopolitical conflicts, have created a condition of new, emergent, and reemerging diseases. In addition, the ability of microbes to alter in response to changed environments make identification and control of disease-causing agents a challenge to medical science. This course will focus on the social, political, and economic sources and ramifications of world-wide disease patterns. Infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, tuberculosis, and AIDS will be examined. Ecological changes and new technologies, often alter food resources, productive activities, and the environment resulting in new disease patterns; one example is arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh brought about by deeply bored wells. The The activities of national and international organizations to cope with disease outbreaks, to formulate strategies for disease surveillance and notification, and to create solutions are important to understanding the state of global health. Selected case studies will be used, placing them within a framework of sociological analysis of health and disease, medical research, poverty and disease, as well as national and international organizational and policy responses.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.upenn.edu

Phone Number:

(215) 898-5000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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