Harvard School of Public Health

Program on International Health and Human Rights -- The Program on International Health and Human Rights promotes practical and effective responses to global public health challenges through the innovative application of human rights. This is done through a combination of research, capacity building, policy development and health programming in a variety of areas focusing on HIV/AIDS, reproductive and sexual health, and child and adolescent health.  The work of PIHHR emphasizes the conceptual, methodological, policy and practice implications of linking health to human rights, with particular attention to women, children, gender issues, and vulnerable populations. Program staff have extensive experience in research, training and programming with non-governmental, governmental and intergovernmental organizations working in the fields of health and human rights around the world.

Department of Global Health and Population -- The Department of Global Health and Population seeks to improve global health through education, research, and service from a population-based perspective. In their examination of population and international health issues, department faculty members draw on their disciplinary expertise in many areas: anthropology, biostatistics, demography, ecology, economics, epidemiology, ethics, medicine, political science, reproductive biology, and sociology. The department's research interests span a wide spectrum of topics, including social and economic development, health policy, and demography; design and financing of health care systems; women's health and children's health; prevention and control of infectious and chronic diseases; and geographic information systems (GIS). The department has a special concern with questions of health equity and human rights, particularly in relation to health and population issues in developing countries.

Women, Gender and Health -- The Working Group on Women, Gender and Health was founded in 1996 by Harvard School of Public Health faculty members, post-doctoral fellows, and students interested in advancing the study of women, gender, and health at the School. In 2002, the school-wide faculty approved the Interdisciplinary Concentration on Women, Gender and Health. This concentration is now governed by a Steering Committee comprised of faculty members, post-doctoral fellows, and students who meet monthly to discuss ways to promote curriculum development and public health research and practice regarding women, gender and health at HSPH.

Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies -- For the past four decades, the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies (HCPDS) has served as the locus of interdisciplinary research on population change, socioeconomic development, and human health at the University. Now under the umbrella of the Harvard Initiative for Global Health (HIGH), the Center guides University-wide efforts to understand the evolving health needs of the global community.