Course summary

For people who work within hostile or insecure environments – whether the result of conflict, natural or man-made disasters – the risk of death or serious injury both to communities and aid workers themselves is real and ever-present. Providing care in such environments requires a critical understanding of the situation, and how it constricts and limits what can be achieved safely. This specialist pathway brings together elements from the fields of medicine, politics, economics, history and international relations. You will enjoy fascinating practical sessions working alongside a Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic surgeon who works in conflict zones and resource-constrained settings across the world as far apart as Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sierra Leone and Malawi. In 2013, he was called on by the UK government to lead the UK surgical team in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan, which resulted in 10,000 deaths and four million people displaced and homeless. Global health is a fascinating, broad and multidisciplinary field that is underpinned by the desire to improve people’s health worldwide, reduce inequality and protect communities from global threats, such as conflict, economic crises or preventable diseases which, as coronavirus has demonstrated, do not respect national borders. In addition to our general degree in Global Health, we offer five themed degree pathways which enable you to graduate with a named degree award: Global Health and Conflict; Global Health and Humanities; Global Health and Mental Health; Global Health, Ethics and Law; and Global Health, Infection and Immunity. Core compulsory and elective modules, common to each pathway, will give you the skills and knowledge necessary to understand, interpret and help solve critical global health challenges, and prepare you to conduct a high-calibre research project in your chosen specialism. Past research projects have covered the full spectrum of the discipline – from a clinical project to examine correlation between COVID and HIV conducted here in the UK, for example, to assessment of mental health care provision in rural South Africa and an analysis of the narratives of women imprisoned in Afghanistan and Iraq. St George’s University of London is the UK’s only university dedicated to medical and health sciences education, training and research. We share our site with a major London teaching hospital which is both on the clinical frontline for a diverse local community and a centre of excellence for specialist conditions. You’ll study in a clinical setting with like-minded individuals, mixing with the many different healthcare professionals you will go on to work alongside throughout your career.