How do we achieve the fundamental conditions for human dignity and healthy lives? What are the international moral obligations arising from public and private development? How does attention to justice influence the questions we ask and the institutions we construct?
action for improving health and achieving health equity for all people in the world, especially focusing on issues of maternal and child health in low-income countries, infectious diseases, and recent health consequences of global climate change, food shortages, economic inequities, and environmental degradation.
Children taking a break from class at their newly established primary school in northeastern India.
The Interdisciplinary Minor in
P H O T O BY PA R T H A P R AT I M S A H A
International Health, Development, and Social Justice
I N T E R N A T I O N A L H E A L T H P H O T O - H T T P : / / M E D E D . U C S F. E D U / G H ; D E V E L O P M E N T P H O T O - M I C H A Ł H U N I E W I C Z ; S O C I A L J U S T I C E P H O T O - L O O K I N G 4 P O E T R Y
Current international challenges in health and development are grounded in broader questions of achieving social justice and advancing the common good. To answer these questions we need to understand the overarching principles that link health, development, and social justice; we need to study cross-cultural approaches to social and economic rights; we need to construct ethical institutions and practices. This interdisciplinary minor will prepare students for careers and leadership roles in arenas such as political economy, health and wellness, gender equity, global medicine, economic development, human welfare, and social justice.
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH — collaborative research and
DEVELOPMENT — theories of international development tend to focus on poverty alleviation and economic development. According to Mahbub ul Haq, founder of the Human Development Report, people often value achievements that do not show up in income or growth figures: greater access to knowledge, better nutrition and health services, more secure livelihoods, security against crime and physical violence, satisfying leisure hours, political and cultural freedoms, and a sense of participation in community activities. The objective of human development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy, and creative lives. SOCIAL JUSTICE — theories of social justice require institutions to secure human and civil rights, constrain exploitation, meet basic human needs, and advance the common good. Social justice is realized when all members of society, individuals as well as groups, are ensured, by settled institutions and practices, their fair share of social goods including respect, opportunities, and resources.
A mother and her baby in India, which has a 12.95% preterm birth rate.
FOR LOWER-DIVISION REQUIREMENTS, STUDENTS CHOOSE AMONG COURSES SUCH AS
ANTH 101 Body, Mind and Healing BISC 103Lx General Biology for the Environment and Life BISC 150Lxg The Nature of Human Health and Disease GEOL 108Lg Crises of a Planet IR 101xg International Relations PHIL 140g Contemporary Moral and Social Issues
FOR HEALTH AND WELLNESS, CHOOSE AMONG COURSES SUCH AS
ANTH 301 The Performance of Healing ANTH 405 Evolutionary Medicine SWMS 336 Health, Gender, and Ethnicity IR 339 Public Health and International Relations PSYC 462m Culture and Mental Health REL 460 Senior Seminar: Medical Ethics SOCI 475 Medical Sociology
FOR THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT, CHOOSE AMONG COURSES SUCH AS
IR 325 Rich and Poor States in the World Political Economy IR 454 The International Political Economy of Development POSC 450 Political Development POSC 456 Women in International Development SOCI 470 Development and Social Change in the Third World
FOR PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL JUSTICE, CHOOSE AMONG COURSES SUCH AS I N D I A P H O T O B Y PA U L J O S E P H B R O W N /G L O B A L H E A LT H P H O T O.C O M
This interdisciplinary minor requires six courses (24 units). As with all minors, students should take care to include four courses (16 units) outside their major department, four courses at the upper-division level, and four courses that are not being used to satisfy any other subject requirement. In addition, to satisfy this minor, students must choose courses from at least two different departments.
SOUTHEASTERN VIETNAM PHOTO BY TRAN VINH NGHIA T H E P H I L I P P I N E S P H O T O BY V I C T O R D I A Z K I N TA N A R
Course Requirements
Southeastern Vietnam
SWMS 384m Gender, Social Inequality, and Social Justice IR 316 Gender and Global Issues IR 401 The United Nations and World Order PHIL 431 Law, Society, and Politics REL 366 Religion and Social Change SOCI 360m Social Inequality: Class, Status, and Power CAPSTONE COURSES INCLUDE
MDA 320 Global Ethics: Poverty, Health and the Human Condition SOCI 408 Volunteers, Non-Governmental Organizations, and Everyday Politics SOCI 450 NGO/Non-profit Field Studies Practicum The Interdisciplinary Minor In International Health, Development, and Social Justice was created by the Levan Institute for Humanities and Ethics
The Philippines
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE MINOR, CONTACT THE USC DORNSIFE UNDERGRADUATE ADVISING OFFICE AT (213) 740-2534, OR VISIT: DORNSIFE.USC.EDU/INTL-HEALTH-SOCIAL-JUSTICE-MINOR FOR MORE ABOUT THE USC LEVAN INSTITUTE FOR HUMANITES AND ETHICS, CALL (213) 740-0009, OR VISIT: DORNSIFE.USC.EDU/LEVAN-INSTITUTE
“Human development, as an approach, is concerned with what I take to be the basic development idea: namely, advancing the richness of human life, rather than the richness of the economy in which human beings live, which is only a part of it.” —Amartya Sen, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences 1998
The Interdisciplinary Minor in International Health, Development, and Social Justice Millennium Development Goals:
2013 PROGRESS CHART
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were derived from the Millennium Declaration, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2000. Through the Declaration, world leaders forged a commitment to combat poverty, hunger and disease, provide education to all children and equal opportunities to both women and men, protect the environment, establish a global partnership for development, and to achieve these goals by 2015. The MDGs provide a framework of time-bound goals and targets through which progress can be measured, using a baseline of 1990. This chart presents an assess ment of progress towards selected targets on the basis of information available as of June 2013. The latest available data for most indicators refer to 2011 to 2013.
For the regional groupings and country data, see mdgs.un.org Country experiences in each region may differ signiďŹ cantly from the regional average. Due to new data and revised methodologies, this Progress Chart is not comparable with previous versions. Sources: United Nations, based on data and estimates provided by: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Inter-Parliamentary Union; International Labour Organization; International Telecommunication Union; UNAIDS; UNESCO; UN-Habitat; UNICEF; UN Population Division; World Bank; World Health Organization – based on statistics available as of June 2013. Compiled by Statistics Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations.