INNO 602 GLOBAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL INNOVATION

There is a need to challenge the status quo in global health theory and practice. In a world in which complex challenges are ever emerging, there is a growing demand for new system-wide approaches. New knowledge and technologies are a gateway of opportunities for innovation. This course will introduce students to the concepts, theory, and practice of complexity science. It will allow students to approach global health as a complex adaptive system and understand how this is useful to solve some of the most challenging issues faced by practitioners when trying to create lasting social change in an effective and ethical way.

Students will learn to understand the nature of complex global health issues and how can they better identify potential avenues to generate social innovations and system-level change. The lectures will be co-facilitated by CISG staff and thought leaders and experts in a wide range of fields, including economics, business, public health, social entrepreneurship, political economy, human rights, ethics, gender, sustainability, and sociology.

By participating in this course, students will acquire knowledge, practical tools, and experiences to approach global health through a “complexity lens,” learn about the challenges and opportunities for change agents and systems entrepreneurs in the field, and better prepare them to become global health leaders.