Instructions
There will be two global health policy brief assignments in the course. Each of them should be written as
a policy brief from you, the Under Secretary of Global Health, to the U.S. Secretary of Health. As you
write the brief, you must put yourself into the role of the Under· Secretary of Global Health. Each brief
should be at least four pages long and double-spaced. The font should be in 12-point).
Each brief should be written about a country in a different region of the world. The briefs should be
written on low or middle income countries, since they are the focus ofthe course. This will allow you to
use the briefs to explore selected health and development issues in a variety of settings in a manner
deeper than you will be able to do only in the classroom. The focus of each brief is discussed below.
Each brief should be written about a country in a different region of the world. The briefs should be
written on low or middle income countries, since they are the focus of the course. This will allow you to
use the briefs to explore selected health and development issues in a variety of settings in a manner
deeper than you will be able to do only in the classroom.
Each brief should answer the following questions:
• What is the nature and magnitude of the problem?
• Who is affected by it?
• What are the risk factors for the problem?
• What are the health, economic, and social consequences ofthe problem? How the problem can
be addressed in the fastest and least cost manner?
• What few priority steps do you recommend be taken to address the problem, at least cost, and
what is your rationale for these recommendations?
When you make your argument, give information about the relative cost-effectiveness of your
proposal with evidence.
The brief should start with a summary paragraph.
That summary paragraph would read something like 5-6 sentences:
“About AAA people die every year of TB in our country. The incidence of TB is YYY. About UUU
people in our country get drug-resistant TB every year and about HHH% of those who are
infected with HIV have active TB disease. TB affects largely the urban and rural poor and stems
Brief 1:
from poverty, general ill health, and the lack of coverage of our health services. TB causes illness
for an extended period, stops people from working, causes them to spend large amounts on
health, and leads many families into poverty. DOTs is a low cost approach to TB diagnosis and
treatment that we are not using sufficiently. We must immediately expand our DOTs program,
starting in the north, where the disease burden is highest. We must increase case detection and
treatment success rates. We must also pay special attention to the diagnosis and management
of drug-resistant TB and to TB/HIV co-infection.”
Brief number 1 will summarize, for a country of your choice, the key issues in women’s or children’s
health, who is most affected by them, key risk factors, the links between these issues with social and
economic development, and what might be done to enhance the health of women and children in your
country in cost-effective ways.
Brief 2:
Brief number 2 will summarize, for a country of your choice, the burden of either a particular infectious disease, or a particular non-communicable disease: the people most affected by this disease or diseases, key risk factors, the economic and social costs of the disease(s), and what might be done to address the disease(s) in cost-effective ways.
