Course Title

Equity in Accessing Healthcare Services

Course at a Glance

About this Course

Equity in Accessing Healthcare Services short course is designed for public health professionals developed by the Centre for Professional Skills Development in Public Health (CPSD) at BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University in collaboration with Bangladesh Health Watch (BHW). The course focuses on health equity and the social determinants of health (SDOH). It introduces participants to the core concepts of health equity. Participants will learn that health inequities are not only a result of deficiencies in the health system but diversity in vulnerabilities within the population, social, economic, political, cultural and environmental conditions in which people live, grow and work that determine health and health inequities.

Who is this Course for?

This course is for: health programme planners and managers of Government, NGO/INGO and private sector, University faculty (particularly public health), other professionals in the health sector, and journalists.

Outline of the Course

This course is divided into four themes and organized as follows: Theme-1: Foundational knowledge on Health Equity: Importance of Health Equity to public health and society as whole - introduces the concept of health inequities, as well as data that demonstrates gaps in health status between groups in Bangladesh. It also presents different measures of health (in)equity drawing examples from Bangladesh. Theme-2: Health inequities and their root causes: Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) - introduces the social determinants of health (SDOH) which are the root causes of health inequities. It also presents some ideas how to eliminate social inequities in Health. It encourages participants to explore inequities in maternal and child health indicators by residency of population (rural/urban/hard-to-reach) and sociodemographic characteristics of population groups (age, sex, income, education, ethnicity, religion etc.) in Bangladesh. Then, Theme-3: Pathways to Health Equity: Achieving of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), its challenges and ways forward - explores pathways to health equity: achieving of universal health coverage (UHC), the challenges and ways forward. Finally, Theme-4: The Service Delivery Improvement Project (SDIP): A practical tool for equity related project planning and management - focuses on useful practical tools for project planning and management to address health equity related problems under participants’ SDIP project. It guides participants to explore root causes of health inequity through problem tree and stakeholder analysis focusing on equity issues.

Course Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

  • Describe key health equity concepts, differential between equality and equity e.g., equality is sameness and equity is fairness
  • Describe why health equity is important, and find data that illustrates the state of and trends in health inequities within country (Bangladesh) and between developing countries
  • Describe the pathways through which health inequities are created and persist; more specifically broader social, economic, political and legal factors influencing the health of marginalized populations in the country
  • Describe the pathways to improve health equity through universal health coverage (UHC) overcoming challenges
  • Develop a project focusing on solving health inequities using the Service Delivery Improvement Project (SDIP) tools

Teaching and Structure

This ONLINE course will run between 14 March - 13 April 2022, three days a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays), from 2:30PM to 4:30PM each day (sometimes sessions maybe continued up to 5PM). Teaching and Learning (T&L) methodologies of the course involves facilitator led interactive discussions, case studies, group discussions, exercises (think-pair-share), brainstorming/free listing, and panel discussions with public health specialists and experts. Participants will also need to spend time about 1-2 hour a week on self-directed reading. Finally, participants have to submit a SDIP (group assignment) to successfully complete the course within next one month. Participants will evaluate the course on daily basis via a Google Survey Form.

Assessment and Certificates

All participants will receive a certificate from the school who successfully complete the course. Participants will be expected to take part in presentations and will receive feedback on these. Each participant will be assessed through a presentation and submission of written report.

Course Fee

FREE

How to Apply

Please click here

Application Deadline

March 6, 2022

Acknowledgement

The course is part of a project entitled “Making Bangladesh’s Healthcare Systems More Responsive and Participatory” conducted by the Bangladesh Health Watch (BHW). We received support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and BHW.

For more Information

Course focal person:

Proloy Barua, PhD.

Assistant Scientist

BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (BRAC JPGSPH)

BRAC University

+8801554312319