The World Health Organization Versus the World Bank

International Agencies in Health Care:

The World Health Organization versus the World Bank

HST309H1F

F 2016

Time: Thursday 12:00-2:00

Room: UC261

Course Instructor: Professor Joel Lexchin

E mail:

Office hours: By arrangement (I work in the emergency department at the University Health Network and so the days that I am not available during the week are variable.)

E mail access:

I will generally reply to e mails within 12 hours even if it’s just to say “Thank you”. If you do not get a reply within 12 hours then you should assume that I did not receive your e mail and that it is floating somewhere in the ether. Keep sending e mails until you get a reply. It is your responsibility to ensure that I have received your e mail. Excuses that you didn’t know if I received your e mail will NOT be accepted. If you send an e mail you MUST give your first and last names so that I know who I am corresponding with. Otherwise e mails will not be answered.

HEALTH STUDIES PROGRAM CONTACTS

Health Studies Director: Sarah Wakefield ()

Health Studies Program Assistant: Cecille Sioulis (, UC Room

173)

Website: http://www.uc.utoronto.ca/healthstudies

GENERAL

BEFORE YOU E MAIL WITH ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE COURSE PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE READ OVER THE COURSE OUTLINE. MOST OF THE QUESTIONS THAT YOU’LL HAVE ABOUT THE COURSE ARE ANSWERED IN THE OUTLINE.

Course Learning Objectives

a. Depth and breadth of knowledge

· Understand the different typologies of international agencies that operate in the global health care arena

· Be able to describe the objectives that different types of international agencies have

· Understand the importance of international agencies

· Analytical policy skills that can be applied to the current policy environment

b. Knowledge and methodologies

· Learn how to access resources about international agencies

· Be able to critically read and interpret a wide variety of literature dealing with international agencies

· Analytical policy skills that can be applied to the policy environment

c. Application of knowledge

· Be able to write brief, coherent reports about contemporary health policy issues

· Be able to read and interpret media reports about health policy issues

· Be able to communicate about how international agencies affect the health policy environment

d. Communication skills

· Engage in informative debates in the classroom about the issues being discussed

e. Awareness of limits of knowledge

· Recognize the biases that various actors bring to health policy decision making

f. Autonomy and professional capacity

· Ability to be able to undertake independent research

Course Description

International agencies have a long history of involvement in health care going back to faith-based groups and the early foundations such as the Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundations. Over the past few decades the number of organizations and their scope has expanded especially in the Third World and today the World Bank competes with the World Health Organization as the main mover on the international health scene. This course takes a critical political science approach to the ideological motivation of these organizations and the policies that they have been advocating.

Each lecture will begin with about a 45 minute discussion period that will be based on the type of organization that we will be talking about in lecture. These discussions will be preceded by either a short video or audio tape dealing with the topic.

Writing Ability

You need to write well to do well in this course. If you have trouble writing then it is very strongly suggested that you get help from the writing centre.

ACADEMIC HONESTY AND INTEGRITY

Academic integrity is fundamental to learning and scholarship at the University of Toronto. At the University of Toronto, the following things are considered academic offences in papers you write:

• Using someone else’s ideas without appropriate acknowledgement (i.e., in-text citation)

• Copying material directly from a source and not placing the words within quotation marks

• Submitting your own work in more than one course without the permission of the instructor

• Making up sources or facts, or including references to sources that you did not use.

• Obtaining or providing unauthorized assistance on any assignment including:

• Having someone else complete part or all of an assignment for you

• Working in groups on assignments that are supposed to be individual work

• Having someone rewrite or add material to your work while editing (having someone read your work is a good idea, but they should tell you what is wrong, not fix it for you)

• Lending your work to a classmate who submits it as his/her own

The University of Toronto treats cases of academic misconduct very seriously. All suspected cases of academic dishonesty will be investigated following the procedures outlined in the Code. The consequences for academic misconduct can be severe, including a failure in the course and a notation on your transcript. If you have any questions about what is or is not permitted in this course, please do not hesitate to contact the course instructor, the TA, other available campus resources like the U of T Writing Website. More information is available at www.artsci.utoronto.ca/osai/students.

BLACKBOARD AND TURNITIN

BLACKBOARD

The course outline will be posted on Blackboard.

Slides for lectures will generally be posted at least 1 day before the lecture. Any course announcements will be put on Blackboard.

All assignments must be handed in through Blackboard. Hard copies of assignments will not be accepted.

TURNITIN

Normally, students will be required to submit their course essays to Turnitin.com for a review of textual similarity and detection of possible plagiarism. In doing so, students will allow their essays to be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database, where they will be used solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism. The terms that apply to the University’s use of the Turnitin. Com service are described on the Turnitin.com web site.

Class ID: 13006864

Enrolment password: Internat2016

You’ll create your own user profile using the class enrolment wizard. Additional instructions are available at: http://computing.yorku.ca/students/technology-used-in-courses/assignment-submission-turn-it-in/

If you don’t know how to enroll in TurnItIn there are instructions athttp://www.turnitin.com/en_us/support/help-center/enrolling-in-a-class. If you have problems enrolling or submitting your paper please let me know.

If you do not want to use Turnitin, please let me know in advance. You will be required to submit written reports on how you completed each of your assignments (required contents below), along with detailed annotated bibliographies. Each report and bibliography must be submitted with your assignment when it is due. You will also email an electronic copy of each report and bibliography (with hyperlinked URLs in it) to me. You may be asked to take an oral examination for any or all of your written assignments directed at issues of originality.

The written report must contain the following information, as well as anything else you consider useful to the course director on the issue of academic integrity:

A list of the documents and other sources you consulted to understand your topic, along with the dates you first used each of them.

An explanation of how those documents and sources led you to the other documents and sources you used.

An explanation of which of the sources you used had the most influence on your understanding of the topic of your assignment, and how you used them.

Participation

In order to receive participation marks you need to have attended the lecture in person. If you did not attend the lecture then even if you hand in the answer to a discussion question you will not get participation marks.

Students will be allowed to miss two classes without penalty. After that for each additional class that is missed students will lose 2 marks from the participation mark. Therefore, if students miss 7 classes they will get 10 for participation (2 classes missed without penalty + 5 classes missed with penalty of 2 marks lost per class = 10 marks lost.)

Classes missed for legitimate medical reasons, family crises, weather, etc. will not incur a penalty.

Students can obtain participation marks either by speaking in class or by handing in short (1/2 page) written answers to one of the discussion questions. Discussion questions will be presented at the end of each class. The answers to discussion questions will not be graded, students just have to hand them in. Students will have one week to hand in their answers to the discussion questions unless they are absent for legitimate reasons. After one week after the class answers to discussion questions will no longer be accepted.

Answers to discussion questions need to have your name on them and the date of the lecture.

If there are legitimate reasons why you are unable to attend class in person (e.g., medical problems, ongoing family issues, etc.) please talk to me as soon as possible so that we can work out an alternative method for you to receive participation marks.

ASSIGNMENTS & eSSAY

If you want to submit a copy of your assignment or essay in advance I will read it and give you detailed comments. You can then use those comments to make changes to your assignment. Once a final version of an assignment or an essay is submitted no further changes will be allowed.

REFENCING STYLE

Any recognized referencing style is acceptable for your assignments and essays. If you are not familiar with a referencing style please see a librarian.

REFLECTIVE PAPER

The reflective paper must have two elements. First, explain why you are taking this course and what you hope to learn. Second, say what you personally think is right now a major issue in international health and why you think it is a major issue. This paper should reflect your own views and as such you do not need to use any references. This assignment should be 500 words. Marks will be deducted if the paper is shorter than 450 words or longer than 550 words. For each 50 words or part thereof outside this limit 1 mark (out of 20) will be deducted, e.g., if the paper is 580 words 1 mark will be deduced, if it is 620 words 2 marks will be deducted.

This assignment will be marked on the following: writing style, organization, how clearly you express your views.

No references are necessary unless you are making factual statements, e.g., a statement such as “newborn infants are only being screened for 28 genetic disorders” would need a reference.

Formatting requirements:

· 12 point font

· Double spaced

· 1 inch margins

· Spell-checked

· Title page must have the following:

o Your name

o My name

o Date of submission

o Word count

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Start with a two to three sentence description of what your essay will be about. Then take three of the academic references (journal articles, chapters in books, academic books) that you will be using for your essay. If you are not clear what an academic reference is please contact me. For each of these references write a description of the contents of the reference. You are only summarizing the references, you are NOT commenting on what they have to say. Then explain how you will be using each of these references in your final essay.

This assignment will be marked on the following: how well you have summarized the content of the reference, how well you have explained how you will be using the reference in your essay, writing style and organization.

Here is how to structure your Annotated Bibliography:

Start with a two to three sentence introduction describing what your essay will be about (75 words).

Then give your first reference in a recognized citation style.

Then summarize what’s in the reference and say how you plan to use the reference in your essay (150 words).

Then give your second reference in a recognized citation style.

Then summarize what’s in the reference and say how you plan to use the reference in your essay (150 words).

Then give your third reference in a recognized citation style.

Then summarize what’s in the reference and say how you plan to use the reference in your essay (150 words).

Total word count: 525 words.

Mark penalties:

For the introduction for each 10 words below 65 words or each 10 words above 85 words 1 mark will be deducted.

For each summary of a reference for each 10 words or part thereof below 125 words or each 10 words or part thereof above 175 words 1 mark will be deducted. Therefore if your summary is 118 words 1 mark will be deducted. If your summary is 193 words 2 marks will be deducted.

Example of what the annotated bibliography should look like.

Statement about essay:

This essay will look at the role of the World Health Organization in the tobacco control movement.

Reference 1: Armstrong A. The control over tobacco. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2011;11:12-30.

This article gives a chronology of how the WHO developed the tobacco control framework. The article will be useful to me because it gives a detailed timeframe during which the tobacco control framework developed.

Reference 2: etc.

Formatting requirements:

12 point font
Double spaced
1 inch margins
Spell-checked
Title page must have the following:
Your name
My name
Date of submission
Word count for each description of the reference

ESSAY

The final essay MUST be about the work of an international agency in the health care area. It can be about one of the agencies/organizations that we have covered in class or it can be about one of your own choosing.

The final paper will be expected to be 1500 words and should demonstrate the ability to apply the material learned in this course plus the use of relevant secondary literature to analyze a topic related to health policy. Marks will be deducted if the paper is either shorter than 1400 words or longer than 1600 words. The word count is only for the text, i.e., does not include the references but does include subheadings. For each 50 words or part thereof outside this limit 5 marks (out of 100) will be deducted, e.g., if the essay is 1620 words 5 marks will be deducted, if the essay is 1690 words 10 marks will be deducted. Up to 15 marks will be deducted based on the essay being too short or too long.