MPH Context Certificate: Maternal and Child Health
Assuring that women, their partners, children, and adolescents are healthy and thriving is central to the public health mission throughout the world. This 12-unit certificate expands knowledge and skills needed to understand the complex biologic, social, and systems-related determinants of key maternal and child health (MCH) challenges (such as infant and maternal mortality, reproductive justice, and youth development), evaluate MCH research, and critically assess and implement programs, policies, and advocacy strategies to achieve equity across MCH populations.
Upon graduation, students will be able to:
- Apply a life course framework, combining knowledge of human development and the cumulative impacts of all social and biologic determinants of health and systemic forms of oppression.
- Illustrate how key international and/or national and community-level organizations and systems promote and impede women’s, reproductive, child, and adolescent health.
- Critically evaluate latest innovations created to meet MCH challenges of the 21st century in resource-rich and resource-poor countries and communities.
- Analyze MCH-related research and communicate key findings and their significance to public health practice in non-technical terms.
- Apply functional area competencies to a selected MCH population or health domain.
Course Requirements
Required Courses
- SPH MC 725 Women, Children, and Adolescents: A Public Health Approach (4 units) or SPH GH 881 Global Reproductive and Perinatal Health (4 units)
Electives
Students must select 8 units from the following elective courses. Depending on your interests, you may choose elective courses across areas in MCH (noted in italicized headings below) or in one area.
| Courses | Reproductive, Perinatal & Women’s Health | Child & Adolescent Health & Development | Cross-Cutting Courses (Focus on Families & Communities or MCH Leadership More Broadly) |
| SPH EP 759 Reproductive Epidemiology (4 units) | X | ||
| SPH GH 766 Sexual and Reproductive Health in Disaster Settings (4 units) | X | ||
| SPH GH 881 Global Reproductive and Perinatal Health (4 units) | X | ||
| SPH GH 887 Managing Maternal and Child Health Programs in Developing Countries (4 units) | X | X | |
| SPH MC 705 Sexual Health: From Science to Policy (4 units) | X | ||
| SPH MC 725 Women, Children, and Adolescents: A Public Health Approach (4 units) | X | X | |
| SPH MC 730 Leading to Face Challenges and Achieve Results in Public Health (2 units)* | X | ||
| SPH MC 750 Disability Justice Through the Life Course: Programs, Policies, and Turning Advocacy to Action (4 units) | X | X | |
| SPH MC 759 Perinatal and Child Health Epidemiology (4 units) | X | ||
| SPH MC 763 MCH Policymaking (2 units) | X | ||
| SPH MC 775 Social Justice and the Health of Populations: Racism and Other Systems of Oppression in the United States (4 units)** | X | ||
| SPH MC 776 Advanced Practice and Research Methods for Public Health Equity (4 units)** | X | ||
| SPH MC 783 Substance Use Among Diverse Populations (4 units) | X | ||
| SPH MC 785 Sexual and Reproductive Health Advocacy: From Rights to Justice (2 units) | X | ||
| SPH MC 786 Immigrant and Refugee Health (4 units) | X | ||
| SPH MC 795 The Health of Adolescents and Emerging Adults (4 units) | X | ||
| SPH MC 800 Preventing Mental Health Concerns: A Life Course Perspective (2 units) | X | ||
| SPH MC 802 Implementing Community Health Initiatives: A Field-Based Course in Leadership and Consultation (4 units)* | X | ||
| SPH MC 820 Managing Public Health Programs and Projects (4 units) | X | ||
| SPH MC 840 Women and Health Policy (4 units) | X | ||
| SPH SB 753 Preventing Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence: A Public Health Perspective (4 units) | X |
Note: Whichever option above (SPH GH 881 or MC 725) is not selected as the student’s required MCH course may count as an elective for the MCH Certificate.
*Students may receive MCH Certificate units for SPH MC 802 (4 units) or MC 730 (2 units), not both, due to overlap.
**Students cannot receive MCH certificate units for both SPH MC 775 and MC 776.
