Fall 2024
University of Kentucky
GEO 261: Global Dynamics of Health
Course Syllabus
|
Dr. J. Anthony Stallins
UK Department of Geography
|
Date |
Day |
Self-study slides |
Canvas
questions |
Friday recitation |
Readings |
| Aug 26 |
M |
Week 1: Defining global health |
Reading questions (RQ) 1 (due Wednesday 9/4 at 11:59 pm)
|
Overview of documentary films and essays
Start Crip Camp
|
How Long Will This Child Live (NYT) |
|
| This May Be the Most Important Thing Happening in the World (NYT) |
| The Chains of Mental Illness in West Africa (NYT) |
| Aug 28 |
W |
A Radical Experiment in Mental Health Care, Tested Over Centuries (NYT) |
|
| Cervical Cancer and Overcoming Haitian Cultural Barriers (Pulitzer Center) |
| Aug 30 |
F |
Why Saving Kids is Bad Business in America (NYT Video) |
| It's Time to End the Colonial Mindset in Global Health (NPR) |
| The Problem with Decolonizing Global Health (Persuasion) |
| Sept 2 |
M |
|
RQ 2 (due Sunday 9/8 at 11:59 pm)
|
Continue Crip Camp |
Air Pollution Kills 10 Million People a Year. Why Do We Accept That as Normal? (NYT) |
| See How the World's Most Polluted Air Compares With Your City (NYT) |
| The American West's Haunting, Smoke-Filled Future (NYT) |
| Sept 4 |
W |
The Faustian Bargain of Reducing Air Pollution (NYT) |
|
|
| Sept 6 |
F |
Burning Coal for Survival in the World's Coldest Capital (NYT) |
| For American Brands Worried About China, Is India the Future? |
|
| Sept 9 |
M |
Week 3: Climate change and extreme heat |
RQ 3 (due Sunday 9/15 at 11:59 pm) |
Finish Crip Camp (film essay due Friday 9/20 by 11:59 pm) |
Why Are Heat Deaths So Hard to Track? (NYT) |
| A Climate Warning from the Cradle of Civilization (NYT) |
|
| Sept 11 |
W |
Heat Is Killing Thousands, and Big Events Have Not Adjusted (NYT) |
| In India, Summer Heat May Soon Be Literally Unbearable (NYT) |
| The Killer Stalking Sri Lanka's Men (NYT) |
| Sept 13 |
F |
A Matter of Survival as South Asia's Heat Wave Reaches 127 Degrees (NYT) |
| How India is Coping with Extreme Heat (NYT) |
| This Is Inequity at the Boiling Point (NYT) |
| Sept 16 |
M |
|
RQ 4 (due Sunday 9/22 at 11:59 pm) |
Start The Cave
|
How to Make a Nation of Meat Eaters Crave the Humble Bean (NYT) |
| Food as You Know It Is About to Change (NYT) |
|
| Sept 18 |
W |
South Africa Runs Out of Insulin Pens as Global Supply Shifts to Obesity Drugs (NYT) |
| In Kenya, and Across Africa, an Unexpected Epidemic: Obesity (NYT) |
|
| Sept 20 |
F |
|
| Melted, Pounded, Extruded: Why Many Ultra-Processed Foods Are Unhealthy (WP) |
| In Poorer Countries, Obesity Can Signal Financial Security (NYT) |
Test 1 of 4
Posted 5:00 pm Friday, Sept 20
Due 11:59 pm Tuesday, Oct 1 |
| Sept 23 |
M |
|
RQ 5 (due 10/1 at 11:59 pm) |
Continue The Cave |
2024-2025 Recommended Composition of Influenza Virus Vaccines (WHO) |
| A Freshly Killed Chicken Is Mightier Than the Coronavirus (NYT) |
| The Disease Detectives Trying to Keep the World Safe From Bird Flu (NYT) |
| Sept 25 |
W |
We're Applying Lessons From Covid to Bird Flu. That's Not Good (NYT) |
| An Undiscovered Coronavirus? The Mystery of the 'Russian Flu' (NYT) |
|
| Sept 27 |
F |
|
| Could the Next Pandemic Start at the County Fair? (NYT) |
| Bird Flu Has Already Appeared in New York's Animal Markets. What's Next? (NYT) |
| Sept 30 |
M |
Week 6: Political instability |
RQ 6 (due Sunday 10/6 at 11:59 pm) |
Finish The Cave (film essay due Friday 10/11 by 11:59 pm |
I Said the Era of Famines Might Be Ending. I Was Wrong (NYT) |
| In Kashmir, a Race Against Death, With No Way to Call a Doctor (NYT) |
| Inside Gaza's Ruined Hospitals (NYT Video) |
| Oct 2 |
W |
As Gaza Hospitals Collapse, Medical Workers Face the Hardest Choices (NYT) |
| In Myammar, Health Care's Collapse Takes Its Own Toll (NYT) |
| Inside Sudan, Devastating Warfare Forces Desperate Choices (WP) |
| Pakistan Seemed Close to Beating Polio (NYT) |
| Oct 4 |
F |
|
| In Global Conflict Zones, Hospitals and Doctors Are No Longer Spared (NYT) |
|
| Oct 7 |
M |
Week 7: Economic disparity |
RQ 7 (due Sunday 10/13 at 11:59 pm) |
Start Motherland |
How Do We Fix the Scandal That Is American Health Care? (NYT) |
|
|
| Oct 9 |
W |
Rich Countries Lure Health Workers From Low-Income Nations to Fight Shortages (NYT) |
| The Brutality of Sugar: Debt, Child Marriage and Hysterectomies (NYT) |
| Who Killed the Knapp Family (NYT) |
| Oct 11 |
F |
|
| We Need a New Global Measure for Poverty (NYT) |
| A Tale of Two Sisters, Two Countries, and their Health Systems (WP) |
| Oct 14 |
M |
Week 8: Global opioids |
RQ 8 (due Sunday 10/20 at 11:59 pm) |
Continue Motherland
|
Growing Cannabis and Opium Poppies May Be Key to U.S. Supply Chains (NYT) |
| Climate Change Imperils Taliban's Shift From Opium (WP) |
|
| Oct 16 |
W |
'Opiophobia' Has Left Africa in Agony (NYT) |
| 'Safer Opioid' Has Sparked a Crisis in Vulnerable Countries (AP-Pulitzer) |
|
| Oct 18 |
F |
The Drug Trade Now Flourishing in Afghanistan: Meth (WP) |
| The American Drug Mules Smuggling Fentanyl Into the US (NYT) |
| Can San Francisco Solve Its Drug Crisis? Five Things to Consider (NYT) |
Test 2 of 4
Posted 5:00 pm Friday, Oct 18
Due 11:59 pm Sunday, Oct 27
|
| Oct 21 |
M |
Week 9: Antimicrobial resistance |
RQ 9 (due Sunday 10/27 at 11:59 pm) |
Finish Motherland (film essay due Friday 11/1 by 11:59 pm) |
Your Ancestors Knew Death in Ways You Never Will (NYT) |
| 'The Last of Us' Is Right. Our Warming Planet is a Petri Dish (NYT) |
| Do You Really Need That Antibiotic? (NYT) |
| Oct 23 |
W |
A Mysterious Infection, Spanning the Globe in a Climate of Secrecy (NYT) |
| Drug Giants Create Fund to Bolster Struggling Antibiotic Start-Ups (NYT) |
| Can a Federally Funded 'Netflix Model' Fix the Broken Market for Antibiotics? (NYT) |
| Oct 25 |
F |
Where a Sore Throat Becomes a Death Sentence (NYT) |
| In Poor Kenyan Community, Cheap Antibiotics Fuel Drug-Resistant Infections (NYT) |
| Chick-fil-A Modifies Its 'No Antibiotic' Chicken Policy (NYT) |
Nov 1 |
F |
Week 10 - Midterm and Fall Break
No lecture classes Monday Oct 28th and Wed Oct 30th. There are no reading questions this week. Friday recitations do not meet in person, but there is an assignment to be completed at home. Watch the first 30 minutes of How to Survive a Plague on your own.
Complete the online Canvas assignment (10 points) covering the first 30 minutes of How to Survive a Plague. These questions will be posted Friday morning 10/31 and will close on Thursday 11/7 at 11:59 pm. You can access the film for free at https://youtu.be/zExVVYzeQlQ?si=2v_MrG4nm8Y1QXhG |
| Nov 4 |
M |
Week 11: Ecosystem change and zoonotic disease |
RQ 10 (due Sunday 11/10 at 11:59 pm) |
Continue How to Survive a Plague
In person Friday attendance required |
How Humanity Unleashed a Flood of New Diseases (NYT) |
| Farm Animals Are Hauled All Over the Country. So Are Their Pathogens (NYT) |
| Nearly Eradicated in Humans, the Guinea Worm Finds New Victims (NYT) |
| Nov 6 |
W |
Yellow Fever Circles Brazil's Huge Cities (NYT) |
| You're Missing Microbes. But Is Rewilding the Way to Get Them Back? (NYT) |
| We Made the Coronavirus Pandemic (NYT) |
| Nov 8 |
F |
Deforestation Brings Bat-Borne Virus Home to Roost (NYT) |
| Epidemics That Weren't: How Countries Shut Down Recent Outbreaks (NYT) |
| Why the Wealthy Fear Pandemics (NYT) |
| Nov 11 |
M |
|
RQ 11 (due Sunday 11/17 at 11:59 pm)
|
No Friday in-person attendance required.
Online Canvas assignment on last third of How to Survive a Plague due Thurs 11/21 at 11:59 pm
Guidelines for How to Survive a Plague essay posted in Canvas (essay due Friday 11/22 by 11:59 pm) |
Why the Pandemic Probably Started in a Lab, in 5 Key Points (NYT) |
| Covid Vaccine Gets Muted Welcome in Land Awash in Bigger Problems (NYT) |
| She Hunts Viral Rumors about Real Viruses (NYT) |
| Nov 13 |
W |
Vaccine Injury Claims are Few and Far Between (NYT) |
| How Anti-Vaccine Sentiment Took Hold in the United States (NYT) |
| Global Stockpile of Cholera Vaccine Is Gone as Outbreaks Spread (NYT) |
| Nov 15 |
F |
The Pandemic Is Showing Us How Capitalism Is Amazing, and Inadequate (NYT) |
| Sharp Drop in Childhood Vaccinations Threatens Millions of Lives (NYT) |
| The Variant Hunters: Inside South Africa's Effort to Stanch Dangerous Mutations (NYT) |
Test 3 of 4
Posted 5:00 pm Friday Nov 15
Due 11:59 pm Tuesday, Nov 26 |
| Nov 18 |
M |
Week 13: HIV-AIDS
|
RQ 12 (due Sunday 12/1 at 11:59 pm) |
No Friday in-person attendance required.
Film synthesis essay guidelines will be posted in Canvas.
UK Core film synthesis essay due in Canvas Friday 12/6 by 11:59 pm |
The Cell that Started a Pandemic (Radiolab) |
| 3 Lessons the AIDS Pandemic Taught Us About Covid (NYT) |
| Two Strains of H.I.V. Cut Vastly Different Paths (NYT) |
| Nov 20 |
W |
H.I.V. Arrived in the U.S. Long Before 'Patient Zero' (NYT) |
| How a Drugmaker Profited by Slow-Walking a Promising H.I.V. Therapy (NYT) |
| H.I.V. Is Coming to Rural America (NYT) |
| Nov 22 |
F |
A U.N. Declaration on Ending AIDS Should Have Been Easy. It Wasn't (NYT) |
| The U.S. Program That Brought H.I.V. Treatment to 20 Million People (NYT) |
| Global Push to Treat H.I.V. Leaves Children Behind (NYT) |
| Dec 2 |
M |
Week 15
Malaria, dengue, and mosquitoes
|
RQ 13 (due Sunday Dec 8 at 11:59 pm)
|
Make-up for Friday excused absences on Friday, Dec 6
|
Malaria Vaccine Rollout to Africa Is a Cautionary Tale (NYT) |
| Mosquitoes Are a Growing Public Health Threat, Reversing Years of Progress (NYT) |
| An Invasive Mosquito Threatens Catastrophe in Africa (NYT) |
| Dec 4 |
W |
Insecticides Can't Stop These Mosquitoes, Now What (NYT) |
| Unleashing a New Weapon on the Mosquito: A Mosquito (NYT) |
| The Gamble: Can Genetically Modified Mosquitoes End Disease? (NYT) |
| Dec 6 |
F |
At Long Last, Can Malaria Be Eradicated? (NYT) |
| One Village Two Houses - A New Tactic to Win the War on Mosquitoes (NYT) |
| Brazil Has a Dengue Emergency, Portending a Health Emergency for the Americas (NYT) |
| Dec 9 |
M |
Prep Days
Makeup days for students with excused Friday absences to be held on Monday and Wednesday during lecture time (8:00 - 8:50 am) |
| Dec 11 |
W |
| Dec 12 |
F |
Reading Day |
| Dec 15 |
Mon |
Test 4 posted in Canvas by 11:59 pm
|
| Dec 18 |
Thu |
Test 4 closes in Canvas at 11:59 pm
|