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MEDICINE, SOCIETY & CULTURE: PUBLIC HEALTH PERSPECTIVES

SOSC 7380

Medicine and health issues are the mirrors reflecting the ideology, and social and cultural beliefs and values of a society. This course intends to allow students to understand medicine and health issues from a social science angle. With the application of various social science traditions and public health principles, students are enabled to critically examine the issues of health, disease, and illness from a socio-cultural perspective. They can understand a wide range of factors – biological, social, cultural, and environmental – in shaping people’s health beliefs, illness experiences, and health behaviors.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINANTS AND HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT

GEOG 7310

The Course is designed to identify, characterize and evaluate environmental contaminants as they are related to human health and adopts a global perspective to contaminant issues. Topics include biological, chemical and physical contaminants (both well-known and emergent ones) in air, food, soil and water. The behaviour of these contaminants will be discussed. Methods of environmental health risk assessment and risk management will be introduced as will policies designed to eliminate the effects of exposure to environmental contaminants.

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