POPLHLTH 718: Health and Public Policy is a course that introduces students to the study of public policy and health policy issues, with a view to understanding the factors that shape health policy and the politics of health issues.
The things that governments do, and the things that they don’t do, can have a profound effect on the way health care services are delivered, and on broader health outcomes. The study of public policy allows us to gain greater insight into why some actions are taken, why some things don’t happen at all, and what happens after policy decisions are made.
While understanding government – the nature of its role, the scope and limits of its power, the degree to which it acts in a united or divided way – is central to the study of policy, this course also emphasises the importance of other policy actors – occupational groups, researchers, advocacy groups, public officials – in attempts to steer policy.
This course provides students with the tools to understand and analyse policy processes, and emphasises the development of three inter-related skills:
Policy analysis - identifying, describing and synthesising the most salient features of any policy issue
Policy advocacy - building and presenting coherent and convincing policy arguments
Academic policy studies - applying policy studies theoretical frameworks in order to explain policy processes.