How do we achieve the fundamental conditions for human dignity and healthy lives? What are the international moral obligations arising from public and private development? How does attention to justice influence the questions we ask and the institutions we construct?
action for improving health and achieving health equity for all people in the world, especially focusing on issues of maternal and child health in low-income countries, infectious diseases, and recent health consequences of global climate change, food shortages, economic inequities, and environmental degradation.
Children taking a break from class at their newly established primary school in northeastern India.
The Interdisciplinary Minor in
P H O T O BY PA R T H A P R AT I M S A H A
International Health, Development, and Social Justice
I N T E R N A T I O N A L H E A L T H P H O T O - H T T P : / / M E D E D . U C S F. E D U / G H ; D E V E L O P M E N T P H O T O - M I C H A Ł H U N I E W I C Z ; S O C I A L J U S T I C E P H O T O - L O O K I N G 4 P O E T R Y
Current international challenges in health and development are grounded in broader questions of achieving social justice and advancing the common good. To answer these questions we need to understand the overarching principles that link health, development, and social justice; we need to study cross-cultural approaches to social and economic rights; we need to construct ethical institutions and practices. This interdisciplinary minor will prepare students for careers and leadership roles in arenas such as political economy, health and wellness, gender equity, global medicine, economic development, human welfare, and social justice.
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH — collaborative research and
DEVELOPMENT — theories of international development tend to focus on poverty alleviation and economic development. According to Mahbub ul Haq, founder of the Human Development Report, people often value achievements that do not show up in income or growth figures: greater access to knowledge, better nutrition and health services, more secure livelihoods, security against crime and physical violence, satisfying leisure hours, political and cultural freedoms, and a sense of participation in community activities. The objective of human development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy, and creative lives. SOCIAL JUSTICE — theories of social justice require institutions to secure human and civil rights, constrain exploitation, meet basic human needs, and advance the common good. Social justice is realized when all members of society, individuals as well as groups, are ensured, by settled institutions and practices, their fair share of social goods including respect, opportunities, and resources.