Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health

MSPH in International Health (Social and Behavioral Interventions)

Student timeline

Students can complete their degrees in 1.5 years. All requirements should be completed within 2 years.

Academic Terms 1 to 4

• Intensive coursework on common core and program-specific courses
• Comprehensive examination at the end of the first academic year
• Practicum proposal

Academic Terms 5 to 6 (minimum)

• Practicum: field placement at a variety of venues to gain practical skills in the application of the principles and methods learned, give back to community members, and participate effectively in a professional team
• Capstone essay making a meaningful contribution related to the practicum and providing evidence of expertise in a specific applied aspect of social and behavioral interventions in global health
• Elective courses

Practicum

In addition to completing the requisite coursework, students must gain practical skills in the application of the principles and methods learned, give back to community members, and participate effectively in a professional team. Many students will complete their practicums abroad. Students will have the opportunity to work with faculty at field sites across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America among others. We have long-standing collaborations with local research partners in many countries, such as Nepal, Peru, Uganda, Bangladesh, and several Native American Nations in the western US. Faculty and staff also help students find opportunities with other global health organizations.

Core competencies

Expected key competencies include:

• Define and respond to major global health problems of underserved populations in lower-income contexts, using appropriate tools from biostatistics, epidemiology, and management, and guided by knowledge of underlying biological mechanisms, environmental influences, and current best practice.
• Use appropriate and rigorous qualitative methods to understand the social and community context of health and inform public health action.
• Apply relevant theory and multi-method formative research to develop locally appropriate, theory-driven, effective social, and behavioral intervention strategies to improve community health.
• Implement and evaluate the processes and outcomes of social and behavioral interventions in global health.
• Communicate programmatic or research findings to community members, public health professionals, and policy makers.

Alumni take on positions where they are able to provide technical assistance in assessing the sociocultural context surrounding public health interventions, and in the development, implementation, and evaluation of social and behavioral change programs, to improve the health of underserved communities locally and globally.

Where our alumni work:

• Rabin Martin, a global health consulting firm in New York City
• US Agency for International Development, Bureau for Global Health, Washington DC
• San Francisco Department of Public Health, Community Health, and Equity Promotion
• UNICEF Zambia, Behavior Change Communication, Water, Hygiene and Sanitation Program, Lusaka
• D-tree International, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
• Ona, a web and mobile data applications company, Nairobi, Kenya
• One Drop Foundation, a nonprofit of Cirque du Soleil, using the arts to catalyze WASH-related social and behavior change in underserved global settings, Montreal, Canada
• Introduction of malaria rapid diagnostics in Sub-Saharan Africa, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore
• Center for Child and Community Health Research, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore
• Center on Gender Equity and Health, UC San Diego, New Delhi, India
• Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, UN Foundation, Washington DC
• Merck, Kenilworth, NJ
• ThinkWell, a global health start-up and action tank, Washington DC
• Public health, Anthropology, Medicine

Learning Outcomes

1. Identify and interpret public health nutrition problems and characterize these problems in terms of measurable indicators
2. Analyze relevant nutrition data and interpret scientific evidence to develop and implement prevention, control, and evaluation plans
3. Design, manage, and evaluate nutrition related research or programs in a field, laboratory or clinical experience from conception of ideas through data collection, and analysis, to inform guidelines
4. Communicate through written reports, oral presentations and other media nutrition information of high technical quality and program or policy relevance.