MPH in Global Public Health Manchester Metropolitan University

Public Health is a growing concern with issues such as obesity and other complex conditions requiring a need for education and specialist training across the health sector.

The MPH Global Public Health offers a foundation in public health training and exposure to global health analysis, policies, systems and practices.

We’ve designed this course for health professionals looking to develop a career in public health and epidemiology.

You’ll focus on global public health issues guided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015:

• Reproductive, maternal, new-born and child health
• Infectious diseases
• Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health
• Injuries and violence
• Universal health coverage (UHC) and health systems
• Environmental risks
• Health risks and disease outbreaks

You’ll develop an in-depth understanding of the health challenges facing populations and nations in an increasingly globalised world. We aim to equip you with skills for planning, managing and evaluating health services for disease prevention, health protection and health promotion.

Graduates from this MPH should develop a workforce with strong management, leadership and critical thinking skills.

Features and benefits

• Learn vital skills - Equips you with skills for planning, managing and evaluating health services for disease prevention, health protection and health promotion.
• Prepare for examinations - Covers many of the areas necessary for sitting Part A of the Faculty of Public Health examination.
• Flexible course - Our course has a part-time option to help you fit studying around your work.
• Expert academics - Our teaching team consists of professors and readers in epidemiology, public health, sociology, health promotion and mental health.

Course information

In this course, you’ll examine and reflect upon the challenges of preventing disease, tackling health inequalities and analysing outcomes in an increasingly globalised world.

The course is arranged as five core taught units (90 credits), two optional taught units (30 credits), and a 60 credit dissertation project.

You’ll learn from a breadth of modules, from epidemiology, sociology, statistics, economics to mental health. We aim to ensure that all modules explicitly reflect that many public health challenges faced today are global health problems. This means all core and optional taught modules include specific content and data examples covering both global and regional situations, with emphasis on the seven WHO health-related SDG thematic areas.

You’ll critically analyse topics from disease prevention and health promotion to the cultural and historical conditions shaping public health policies and practices.

You’ll complete a supervised, independent 10,000-15,000 word research project providing an in-depth examination of a chosen area of global public health. Dissertation topics could include an area of public health relevant to your work and career plans, systematic or narrative literature reviews, or secondary data analysis.

The course will be delivered through a variety of teaching methods including lectures, seminars, workshops and computer-based activities as well as collaborative group work using virtual environments. We use our online learning environment (Moodle) to support our teaching activities and ensure electronic access to all teaching materials.

You’ll be assessed via a range of methods including essays, multiple-choice assessments, reviews of policy documents, reflective logs, oral presentations, written tests and a supervised dissertation.

Full-time students will be expected to attend timetabled days. Part-time attendance will be dependent upon which year you take core and option units.

Year 1

In this course, you'll study the following core units:

Core units

• Global Public Health Challenges in the 21st Century
• Sociological Methods for Public Health
• Evidence-Based Public Health and Health Promotion
• International Health Systems and Policy
• Dissertation
• Epidemiology and Statistics for Public Health (Part 1)
• Epidemiology and Statistics for Public Health (Part 2)

This course provides a foundation to develop a wide range of professional careers in public health and epidemiology.

Public health focuses on populations and communities, as opposed to individuals, leading to potential careers in public or government services, research, NGOs and the voluntary sector. Although a number of common themes are covered in this course, you may specialise in roles ranging from health services research, public health analysts, health policy advisors, communicable disease control or directors of public health.