Health Sciences and Public Health in Spain (English)

General description
This course is intended to; on the one hand, offer a generic view of the most important aspects of the Spanish health system and its comparison with other European systems, as well as their institutions and to cover some specific aspects of diseases of interest, in a context of scientific and technical vocabulary. On the other hand, the course also aims to identify what factors, together with the health system, determine the level of health of a population. The relative importance of these factors will be analyzed on the basis of the socio- economic characteristics of a country, as well as the interventions that are made for prevention and control by the public health system.

Content

1. Concept of health and public health. Determinants of the health of a population.
2. The inequalities in health in Europe and the United States.
3. Lifestyles as determinants of health. The example of sugary soft drinks and its parallel with the onset of tobacco control.
4. Physical environment and health. Situation in Spain, Europe and the United States.
5. The Spanish and European health care systems
6. Spanish and European Health Care Institutions. Biological research.
7. The Spanish system of organ transplants
8. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Epidemiology in Spain and the world.
9. Cancer. Cancer situation in Spain.
10. Diabetes. The epidemic of diabetes and obesity in Spain and in the world. Control and Prevention.
11. Epidemiology of injuries from road traffic accidents in Spain and the world. Possibilities for intervention.
12. Prevention strategies. Primary and secondary prevention programs in Spain.
13. New therapies. Cell Therapies, genes and stem cells.
14. Transgenic Food.

Assessment
Evaluation on 10 points distributed as follows:

-Written examinations: 7 points (3,5 points for the contents of Health and 3,5 points for Public Health)
- Written essays: 3 points. 1 essay on the module of Health (1,5 points) and 1 essay on the module of Public Health (1,5 points)

Bibliography
- Sistema Nacional de Salud de España, 2010. Instituto de Información Sanitaria.
Madrid.
- OECD (2012), ?Executive summary?, in Health at a Glance: Europe. 2012, OECD Publishing.
- Rafael Matesanz. El modelo español de coordinación y trasplantes. Aula Médica, 2008.
- Clive James. Situación mundial de la comercialización de cultivos biotecnológicos/MG en 2011. ISAAA. International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications.
- Cabanes Domenech, A y otros. La situación del cáncer en España, 1975-2006. Centro Nacional de Epidemiología. Instituto de Salud Carlos III.
- Vigilancia epidemiológica del VIH/SIDA en España. Instituto de Salud Carlos III. 2012.