Welcome to Module 7_ Course Unit Health Policy and Cooperation (SPH6209)

Module 7_ Course Unit Health Policy and Cooperation (SPH6209) 

Introduction

Health policy and cooperation is a growing field of study and in important aspect within the area of health policy and systems. The unit course is designed to introduce postgraduate students in public health and epidemiology programme to the field of health policy. The unit course is designed around different sessions comprised of some theories, exercises and individual activities. This unit course introduces some key concepts related to health policy and policy analysis. It explains the complex nature of policy development and indicates how the study of health policy can help explain the successes and failures of current and past policies as well as inform future policy development and implementation. The unit considers the political nature of the policy process, including the influence of actors over health policy change processes. In addition, an introduction to stakeholder analysis demonstrates the role of stakeholders in policy change and the sources of their power and influence. Proposed exercises and readings facilitate the understanding and identification of key factors influencing the policy process and the central role that actors play in policy processes. Case studies help to discover that there are various types and roles of actors and their actions are influenced by powers, beliefs and value systems and self-interest. This unit focuses on the approaches to policy implementation phase and explain the causes of the divergence between policy formulation and policy outcome.
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