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  6. BU5594: Health Systems And Policy Research

BU5594: HEALTH SYSTEMS AND POLICY RESEARCH (2025-2026)

Last modified: 20 Jun 2025 15:09


Course Overview

The course aims to provide foundational knowledge while placing greater emphasis on fostering critical thinking about the key challenges confronting health systems and the strategies to enhance health. With a global perspective, it examines diverse healthcare systems, encouraging students to compare, analyse, and critique them. Topics include an overview of financing of health systems, the impact of social inequalities on health disparities and their implications for social policy, as well as public health approaches and their connections to issues such as unemployment and obesity.

Course Details

Study Type Postgraduate Level 5
Term Second Term Credit Points 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Prachi Singh
  • Dr Shelley Farrar

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • Any Postgraduate Programme (Studied)

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

None.

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

The course contains the following (indicative) content:

  • Underuse and Overuse of Medical Services: The phenomena of underuse and overuse of medical services which directly affect morbidity and mortality profile of the population will be covered in this section. Specifically, underuse of medical services will be explored over various stages of care (from access to healthcare to patient adherence) while overuse will be explored along the dimensions of overuse of medication, screening tests, diagnostic tests, medical procedures & end-of-life care.
  • Cost-Effectiveness Analysis for Healthcare Interventions: Building blocks for cost-effectiveness analysis for medical interventions like drugs/surgeries/devices are covered in this sub-section. The concepts of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs), Cost Effectiveness (CE) plane are introduced for health policy analysis.
  • Health Inequalities # 1 (early life shocks like famines/droughts/epidemics and long-term health inequality): This section will cover empirical studies which explore the link between early-life shocks (like famines, droughts, epidemics) and long-term health inequality. Important theories like the fetal-origin hypothesis/Barker hypothesis will be used to understand research work in this domain.
  • Health Inequalities # 2 (Bidirectional relationship between health and wealth which is linked to obesity and mental health): This section explores the bi-directional relationship between health and wealth. Specifically, income and/or socio-economic status (Wealth markers) will be linked with obesity and mental health (Health proxies).
  • Unemployment and Health: This section will provide a detailed discussion on the link between unemployment and health. Specifically, we will focus on studies which provide evidence on individual vs aggregate level, economic crisis experienced by various countries etc.
  • Why Governments Intervene in Health Care Systems: This section will discuss why health care is different to other services and how that can lead to government intervention. We will consider the relationship between the patient and the suppliers of health care.
  • Paying Providers for Health Care: The way in which we pay health care providers, whether they are hospitals, doctors, dentists, nurses or others, affects the way in which they behave. It affects the types of services they provide and how much they provide. In this section we will be examining the different ways of paying providers, how we might expect this to affect supply, using case studies to understand the real-world implications.
  • How can we fund Health Care?: Health care is costly – for individuals and for society. In this section, we will identify different ways of funding health care and consider how well they perform in achieving the objectives of an equitable and efficient system. We will use our own country profiles as examples for analysis.

Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 31 August 2025 for 1st Term courses and 19 December 2025 for 2nd Term courses.

Summative Assessments

Oral Presentation: Individual

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 50
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Exam

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 50
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
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Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Resit Assessments

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 50
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback Word Count 1500
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 50
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

Look up Week Numbers

Feedback Word Count 1500
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualUnderstandStudents will be able to demonstrate their understanding of health and its relationship with health policy, health care systems, and social issues.
ConceptualEvaluateStudents will be able to evaluate scientific methods relevant to health policy and systems research in a global setting.
ConceptualEvaluateStudents will be able to critically evaluate the principles and knowledge of successful health policies and systems and apply them to varied global settings.
 

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