Health and Human Rights
Educational Objectives
The Certificate Program in Health and Human Rights is designed to:
- Increase understanding among public health professionals regarding the key linkages between human rights and public health.
- Explore the vital roles of health professionals in promoting human rights, including the right to health, advocating for protection of human rights, researching violations, and building a culture of human rights
- Build familiarity with international human rights standards and institutions
- Review how human rights concepts can be brought to bear on public health programs and policies, ranging from developing health system to responding to an epidemic of infectious disease.
- Review how public health professionals can bring epidemiology and other methods of public health to investigate, analyze, and document abuses of human rights.
Eligibility
The Certificate Program in Health and Human Rights is open to all enrolled graduate degree or nursing degree program candidates from any academic unit within the Johns Hopkins University, with the exception of JHSPH MAS students, who are not eligible to apply until they have completed their primary degree program.
Students with a potential interest in the certificate should take the 1-credit seminar, Current Topics in Human Rights, 340.840, which provides a weekly overview of issues in the field and the work of faculty addressing them.
Admissions Criteria
Applicants should review the How to Apply page for information about eligibility and special instructions. The certificate program's review committee will review the applications and notify each applicant of their admissions decision.
Requirements for Successful Completion
The certificate program requires a minimum of 18 term credits. All required and elective courses must be taken for a letter grade; a minimum grade of C is required in all certificate coursework and students must maintain a 2.75 or better overall GPA for all certificate coursework. The certificate program length is flexible; it varies from student to student, however, the certificate must be completed within three years.
In addition to the course requirements listed below, any certificate students who do not already complete Epidemiology coursework as part of their degree program must complete at least one Epidemiology course.
The student should review the section of the website that addresses completion before completing certificate program requirements. The student's transcript will not indicate that the certificate was earned until the Notification of Completion has been submitted and verified by the certificate program and processed by the Registrar.
Course of Study
Students should check the course catalog to confirm when courses are offered. The term and time may change from what is listed in the table below and some courses are only offered every other year. Students should also check for prerequisites and whether instructor consent is required for courses.
Course of Study | ||||
| Course Number | Course Name | Number of Credits | Online Term | Campus Term |
| Required courses: | ||||
| 550.860 | Academic & Research Ethics All students are required to complete this free online course during their first term of study | 0 | 1,2,3,4,Summer | - |
| 340.840 | Current Topics in Human Rights | 1 | - | 1 |
| 340.639 | Assessing the Epidemiologic Impact of Human Rights Violations | 2 | - | 4 |
Students must complete two of the following courses: | ||||
| Course Number | Course Name | Number of Credits | Online Term | Campus Term |
| 180.600 | Public Health Implications of Health as a Human Right | 2 | - | WI |
| 180.636 | Health and Human Rights Seminar | 3 | - | 4 |
| 340.683 | Human Rights in Public Health Practice | 2 | - | 3 |
| 700.622 | Bioethics, Human Rights and Global Health | 3 | - | 2 |
| Additional elective courses for a total of at least 18 credits, including credits from required courses: | ||||
| 180.626 | Environmental Justice and Public Health Practice | 3 | 2 | - |
| 221.656 | Conceptual and Evidential Foundations of Health Equity and Social Justice | 4 | - | SI |
| 301.615 | Seminar in Health Disparities | 3 | - | 2 |
| 306.670 | Issues in LGBTQ Health Policy | 3 | - | 2 |
| 308.610 | The Political Economy of Social Inequalities and Its Consequences for Health and Quality of Life | 3 | - | 3 |
| 308.842 | Emerging Dimensions of Social Determinants of Health Inequalities: a Transdisciplinary Integrated Approach | 3 | - | FI |
| 318.623 | Social Policy for Vulnerable Populations in the US | 3 | - | 2 |
| 330.667 | Mental Health and the Law | 3 | - | 3 |
| 340.629 | The Epidemiology of LGBTQ Health | 3 | - | 2 |
| 340.692 | Prisons, Public Health and Human Rights | 2 | - | 4 |
| 340.698 | Methods for Assessing Power, Privilege and Public Health in the US | 4 | - | 4* |
| 380.663 | Gender-Based Violence Research, Practice and Policy: Issues and Current Controversies | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 380.668 | International Perspectives On Women, Gender, and Health | 3 | - | 4 |
| 380.750 | Migration and Health: Concepts, Rates, and Relationships | 3 | - | 3 |
| 380.768 | Selected Topics in Women's Health and Women's Health Policy | 4 | 1 | - |
| 410.605 | Fundamental Tools for Promoting Health Equity | 3 | 2 | - |
| 410.606 | Local and Global Best Practices in Health Equity Research Methods | 2 | 4 | - |
| 410.611 | Under Pressure: Health, Wealth and Poverty | 3 | - | 4 |
| 410.681 | Gay, Bisexual and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM) and HIV: Theoretical Perspectives on the US Epidemic | 3 | - | |
| 410.683 | Global Perspectives on LGBT Health | 3 | - | 3 |
| 700.622 | Bioethics, Human Rights, and Public Health | 3 | - | 1 |
| 700.644 | Justice Theory and Health | 3 | - | 4 |
| SAIS 650.766 | Corporate Sustainability, Business and Human Rights (Course is offered at JHU School of International and Advanced Studies- please see their course catalog for information about timing) | |||
WI = Course offered in the Winter Institute held in January in Baltimore/Washington DC; SI = Course offered in the Summer Institute in Baltimore; FI= Course offered in the Fall Institute in Barcelona, Spain
*= course offered every other year
Sponsoring Department
Contact Information
Certificate Program Contact
Name: Sheila Small
Email: ssmall2@jhu.edu
Faculty Sponsor
Name: Leonard Rubenstein