Western University Faculty of Health Sciences
Master of Health Sciences in Health Equity and Sustainability
Online
Master degree
DURATION
1 year
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
CAD 37,000 *
STUDY FORMAT
Distance Learning
* international: $37,000 CAD | for domestic: $14,000 CAD
Key Summary
The Health Equity and Sustainability program (HES) is a one-year, fully online master’s program grounded in principles of equity and justice. The program addresses environmental, socio-economic, and political factors that shape health across the life course and develops current and future health leaders and global citizens.
As a student in the program, you will explore past, current, and future health equity and sustainability issues. Through courses in Global Health, Health Equity, and Climate Change and health, you’ll learn to identify and implement actionable and sustainable health solutions, including those related to the United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Across the year-long program you’ll develop practical skills related to:
- Critical appraisal and evidence-based practice
- Design and implementation of health programs and interventions
- Oral and written communication to diverse audiences across geographies and sectors
- Interdisciplinary collaboration, thought, and evidence co-creation
Through the completion of six courses and a capstone experience (mentorship), graduates of this program earn a Master of Health Sciences (MHSc) degree.
- Three (3) required courses
- Three (3) elective courses
- Capstone Experience
Required Courses
- APPLHSCI 9002: Equity and Health Systems
- One of:
- APPLHSCI 9017: Implementation Science in Practice
- APPLHSCI 9018: Environment, Health and Sustainability
- One of:
- APPLHSCI 9003: Global Health
- APPLHSCI 9010: Health Services, Systems and Policy
Fall Term (September - December)
- Course #1
- Course #2
- APPLHSCI 9099: Capstone Experience
Winter Term (January - April)
- Course #3
- Course #4
- APPLHSCI 9099: Capstone Experience (continued)
Summer Term (May-August)
- Course #5
- Course #6
- APPLHSCI 9099: Capstone Experience (continued)
Graduates of the Health Equity and Sustainability Field of the Advanced Health Care Practice Master’s Program will be able to:
- Apply an equity lens to the analysis of local, system, and global healthcare challenges and responses, including those connected to public health emergencies, humanitarian crises, and climate change.
- Understand the historical, social, and structural determinants of inequity in health.
- Identify, analyze, and (re)imagine drivers of health system change (at micro, meso, and macro levels) to support equity and sustainability.
- Understand political and practical considerations in the design and implementation of evidence-based programming, initiatives, and interventions related to health equity and sustainability.
- Appraise the scope and complexity of the multi- and inter-disciplinary body of knowledge in health equity and sustainability.
- Develop an understanding of the concepts of critical thinking and critical analysis, and appreciate how these skills and approaches inform the examination of health ethics, equity, and sustainability.
- Articulate the importance and meanings of attending to equity and sustainability considerations in the analysis of complex issues.
- Act in accordance with professional protocols with a focus on academic integrity and ethical conduct, autonomy and accountability, and commitment to personal and professional growth.
- Appropriately communicate integrated understandings of health equity and sustainability to diverse audiences.
- Formulate evidence-informed and convincing arguments within inter-professional and interdisciplinary teams.