The topic of the essay is Child and Infant Mortality rates in Sub-Saharan Africa. The age group will be under 5 years and the 4 countries to choose from is in the sub-Saharan African countries. This assignment is a level 7 Masters in Public health. Below is the assignment criteria:Assessment 2: Individual written work (70%)
Assessment Specification
This assessment requires you to write an essay of maximum 2,500 words (including tables and figures, but excluding cover sheet, references and appendices).
For the essay, you need to choose a global health challenge and regional/income group, describe and analyse the problem and progress, assess current strategies and provide recommendations.
The written essay should deliver the following:
1. In terms of scope, choose a global health challenge using one of the SDG health indicators at https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/?Text=&Goal=3&Target
2. In terms of scale, you can focus your essay at either (a) by region or (b) by income level, but you should not focus on only one country.
o Regional-level essays may include analysis by income group, if relevant and data allows. In each region, you need to include at least 4 countries. For instance, you can focus on India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka for the South Asian region.
Regions: East Asia & Pacific, South Asia, Middle East & North Africa, Sub Saharan Africa, Latin America & the Caribbean, Europe & Central Asia.
o Income group-level essays may include analysis by region, if relevant and data allows. In each income group, you need to include at least 4 countries.
Income groups: Low-income countries, Lower-middle income countries, Upper-middle-income countries, High-income countries.
3. Using relevant statistics, data, literature, and reports, clearly describe the magnitude of the problem within your chosen region/income group, and analyse the progress in reaching the 2030 target. Also describe the problem at a global level even if you decide to focus on a regional/income group level for the analysis.
4. In terms of regional, national/governmental health strategies (policies, initiatives, interventions):
o Describe 3 strategies that are currently in place to respond to the chosen global health challenge specific to your region/income group.
o Critically assess the effectiveness of the 3 strategies in terms of addressing the global health challenge as evidenced in the literature. You can take lessons or evidence of effectiveness in relation to your chosen region/income group. You can also draw lessons from similar strategies globally. Assess the extent to which the strategies are being implemented or not.
o Provide 3 recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the strategies (one for each strategy) specific to your region/income group. Justify your recommendations using evidence.
Please also read the Marking Criteria (below) carefully.
It is vital that you follow the principles of good academic practice. Assignments will be checked using plagiarism detection software (Turnitin). Please ensure you have read and complied with the guidelines on academic misconduct and plagiarism avoidance set out in your Programme Handbook. You must ensure that you correctly reference (using the Harvard system) all the sources you have used and that all direct quotations are enclosed within double quotation marks.
Presentational aspects
• Submit your work in Microsoft Word format. Only one file may be submitted and this should include a completed coversheet.
• Please save your file with the name PHM003 essay – your student ID number. For example, ‘PHM003 essay – 1234567’. Do not include your name in the file name (See Programme Handbook for details of anonymous marking).
• State the title of the assignment clearly at the beginning.
• Structure your assignments using headings and sub-headings as appropriate.
• All references used in the text must be included in the reference list, and vice versa.
• Avoid paragraphs that are very long or very short.
• Use bulleted / numbered lists sparingly.
• Use a sans-serif font (e.g. Arial, Verdana, Calibri) with a font size of 11.
• Use single line spacing, leaving a blank line between paragraphs. Please do not indent paragraphs.
• Include a page number at the bottom of each page.
If you are at all unsure about whether a global health challenge is suitable, or you would like to discuss potential challenges, the appropriate approach to adopt or an essay outline, please contact the module leader.
Deadline
Pass Mark
The pass mark for this assessment is 50%. In order to pass the module you are required to achieve the minimum pass mark in each assessment.