If Being Positive has raised your interest in issues of health and development worldwide, our academics have suggested some reading and courses which may be a useful next step.

Reading
Poverty and Development into the 21st Century
Tim Allen and Alan Thomas (editors)
ISBN: 0-19-877626-8, Oxford University Press
Publication Date: 2000.
Breaking the pressing and complex questions of development down into single topics, this book combines chapters written by experts in each field with simple, visual aids - photographs, tables and diagrams. Poverty and Development offers an invaluable way to avoid the simplistic approach to the real challenges of the real world.

Every Seventeen Seconds: Global Perspectives on the AIDS Crisis
Brian Weil
ISBN: 0-89-381524-1, Aperture
An excellent and challenging photo-essay on the effects of AIDS across the planet.

Open University Courses

Individual Courses in Biology - Undergraduate
S195 - Introduction to the Human Genome - The human genome contains all the genes found in the cells of a human being. Our characters, including our appearance, depend on the functions of genes. Genes also contribute to a person’s behaviour and health, including susceptibility to certain diseases, such as heart disease. The course examines the patterns of inheritance of genes, including those associated with genetic diseases; how genes function; how the physical and biochemical characteristics of the body are produced; and why there are differences between individuals and between populations. Finally, it explores some of the issues surrounding research into genes, from biological, medical and ethical points of view: for example, how knowledge from the genome has the potential to revolutionize our ability to change the genetic fates of individuals.

S204 - Biology - Uniformity and Diversity - This course introduces a variety of topics across the whole field of modern biology, emphasizing that it is a science firmly grounded in observation and experiment. It looks at the common features underlying the enormous diversity of life forms and applies these principles to plants, microbes and animals.

S320 - Infectious Diseases - Infectious disease affects all our lives to varying degrees, and is a topic that often makes front-page news: ‘More pupils hit by TB’, ‘AIDS, a global crisis’, ‘Hospital infections kill 5000 people a year’, and so on. The course approaches infectious disease from several perspectives and explores the underlying biology, epidemiology, ecology, and evolution of pathogens in relation to the immune defences of their human hosts. Detailed case studies provide an understanding of strategies for combating disease, and project work offers an opportunity to study a disease or disease related topic in detail.

Individual Courses in Statistics - Undergraduate
M343 - Applications of Probability - The course introduces mathematical models involving probability and randomness, for a diverse range of situations such as earthquakes, the location of plants, the spread of an epidemic (though not specifically HIV/AIDS), genetics and changes in stockmarket prices. You are expected to be reasonably competent in calculus and algebra.

MDST242 - Statistics in Society - What is statistics and what can it do? This course uses statistical techniques to investigate everyday situations and will give you an understanding of statistical ideas. We look at questions like, ‘Are we getting better off?’ and ‘Does class size affect pupils’ performance?’ Finally, looking at medicine and health, we underline the relevance of statistics to decision making by asking questions like, ‘Is my child developing normally?’ and considering the relationship between smoking and lung disease. You need some basic mathematics knowledge.

Individual Courses in Development - Undergraduate
U213 - International Development: Challenges for a World in Transition - International development in its many manifestations presents one of the most pressing challenges for the world this century. This course explores the nature of those issues and responses to them, in the context of changing global, political and economic circumstances. The emphasis of the course is on development needs wherever they arise, with their broadest global implications.

DU301- A World of Whose Making? - How can we best understand and analyse international developments such as the role of the World Trade Organization, the power of the USA, or global contests over culture and rights? What are the main forms of international order and disorder, and are they changing?

U212 - Childhood - What does childhood actually mean? Children's relationship to work, the economy, poverty issues, children's rights and more form the major themes of this course - including historical as well as international perspectives.

Degree programme - Undergraduate
International Studies By the end of this BA/BSc programme, you’ll have a broad understanding of contemporary global issues; of the key political, economic, environmental and cultural aspects of the global order; and of the dynamics of the global system. You’ll have an appreciation of cultural diversity and a knowledge of international institutions, together with an awareness of international citizenship

Post Graduate Programmes
The Open University offers three levels of Post Graduate study in International Development - the Postgraduate Certificate, the Postgraduate Diploma, and the MSc degree in Development Studies. All are aimed at professionals in project management and those who have responsibility for development initiatives in government, non-governmental organisations, international and inter-governmental agencies and public and private enterprises; people who intend to work in those areas, or who have an interest in public action for development; those who want to combine important elements of development and management; and those who want to expand their conceptual and practical skills by taking an international perspective on management.

The courses offered as part of these programmes are:
TU870 - Capacities for Managing Development
TU871 - Development: context and practice
TU872 - Institutional Development: Conflicts, Values and Meanings
TU874 - The Development Management Project

Content last updated: 14/07/2004

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