Population Health
Learning objectives
Upon completion of the certificate, students will be able to:
- Describe disasters in terms of magnitude, people affected, time, and place, and the natural, political, and economic factors that put certain regions and populations at risk.
- Distinguish the legal status and understand the key legal issues faced by internally displaced persons, refugees, and asylum seekers and identify the major humanitarian organizations that are responsible for protection of these populations.
- List and explain the major causes of morbidity and mortality in disasters, the immediate priorities to be addressed, and emergency thresholds and benchmarks for response.
- Characterize key principles of the emergency response framework including the response cycle, stakeholders (i.e., national, international, United Nations, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations), and unique characteristics of an international disaster response system.
- Identify internal and external challenges that may affect the delivery of essential services in a humanitarian response.
- Understand how to develop interventions, programs, and strategies, based on best practices, responsive to the diverse cultural values and traditions of the community being served.
- Understand core concepts of building resilience or recovering from emergencies in communities that may be or have been affected by disasters.
- Use of interactive digital tools for the initial assessment, planning, and monitoring and evaluation of interventions across phases of humanitarian emergencies.
Measurement of the mastery of these learning objectives will occur during a student’s final presentation for their capstone course. The assessment will be completed by certificate-affiliated faculty.
Successful completion of the certificate program will require a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 for courses required for the certificate and a “Pass” grade or grade of 2.7 or higher for each course counted toward the certificate. A minimum of nine student credit hours must be earned in graded classes.