U6414: Global Health Security and Diplomacy | TBD

Public Affairs
Graduate Seminar
Tu 11AM-12:50PM

The course will review humanity’s ability to prevent, mitigate and respond to risks to health and life as a result of catastrophic events caused by war, civil strife, state failure, accidents, natural events, and terrorism. The risk areas are pandemic infectious disease outbreaks, biological, chemical and nuclear (radiological) accidents or attacks and multiple-hazard events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and famines. We will focus on the welfare of children who, while having equal moral standing with adults, lack the moral and legal agency to act in their best interests. Babies, children, and adolescents do not respond in the same way to public health and medical interventions as adults do. Children suffer disproportionately in epidemics. They are often targeted in war and civil strife. We will draw on the perspectives of medicine, epidemiology, climate science, economics, law, international affairs and security to bring together human and animal health, agriculture, wildlife, finance, security, environmental protection, communication, disaster management, transportation, customs and civil aviation. Climate information is particularly important for understanding risks to food security, disease outbreaks, biosafety and the health hazards of catastrophic weather and climate events.

Link to Vergil
Note: only courses offered during the two previous semesters have active Vergil links.