Tanzania, Netherlands

Global Governance of Health Vulnerabilities in Africa

What are key health vulnerabilities in Africa and how do global governance arrangements respond to them in resource constrained settings? What are States’ and other actors’ duties and responsibilities to ensure good health?

This summer school is designed to offer a comprehensive understanding on the role of global governance from a perspective of law, governance, administration and medicine. It istaught by an interdisciplinary staff from the Global Center of Health Law of the University of Groningen, and the School of Public Administration and Management and Faculty of Law of Mzumbe University. Important new and existing health vulnerabilities facing African people that will be discussed include: maternal and child health, environmental health and climate change, disabilities and mental health, or non-communicable diseases (e.g. tobacco, unhealthy diets).

Several academic and (inter)governmental experts will introduce the key themes on day one, such as the role of the WHO and international guidelines in resource constraint settings; human rights and health; and interdisciplinary approaches to global health governance. Interactive lectures and small hands-on group assignments delve deeper into certain themes and topics. Overall, participants will gain insights into (recent developments in) key legal global health arrangements, e.g. WHO, UNFCCC or international and African human rights treaties, as well as the challenges and opportunities of translating them into domestic contexts. Thursday afternoon brings parallel skills-oriented workshops, e.g. preparing MA or PhD research proposals or questions; methods of legal / interdisciplinary research; career advice and CV writing.

On Friday, participants and key staff go on an excursion to Mikumi National Park together.

Course leader

Marlies Hesselman (Faculty of Law)

Idda Lyatonga (School of Public Administration and Management)

Target group

Advanced undergraduate students / Master students / PhD students / Post-docs / Practioners

Course aim

After this course you will be able to:

- Explain key global public health challenges and vulnerabilities confronting the African region, with a focus on children's and women’s health, environmental health, mental health and disability and NCDs,
- Understand dynamics of multi-stakeholder of public health governance arrangements for Africa, from international to local level
- Understand how (international) legal frameworks affect governance of global public health vulnerabilities, with emphasis on international health treaties and international human rights law
- Discuss challenges and realities of public health systems administration and governance in resource constrained settings

Credits info

1 EC
Preparation: 5 hours
Lectures and assignments: 28 hours
Workshops: 3-4 hours

Upon successful completion of the programme, the Summer School offers a Certificate of Attendance that mentions the workload of 36 hours (28 hours corresponds to 1 ECTS). Students can apply for recognition of these credits to the relevant authorities in their home institutions, therefore the final decision on awarding credits is at the discretion of their home institutions. We will be happy to provide any necessary information that might be requested in addition to the certificate of attendance.

Fee info

EUR 200: (Tsh 500,000) - Fees for students and PhDs from African countries

€ 250 - Fees for students and PhDs from OECD countries
EUR 250: (Tsh 650,000) - Fees for practitioners from Africa

€ 300 (tsh 750,000) - Fees for practitioners from OECD countries