CCGL9084 Global Issues

Navigating Your Life: Population Health Challenges and Solutions Around the World

This course is under the thematic cluster(s) of:

  • Sustaining Cities, Cultures, and the Earth (SCCE)
  • The Human Life Span (HL)

SDG-01
SDG-03
SDG-10
Sustainable Development Goals

Timetable for Lectures

Course Description

[This is a certified Communication-intensive (CI) Course which meets all of the requirements endorsed by HKU’s Senate, including (i) the teaching assessment of oral and written communication ‘literacies’; and (ii) at least 40% of the course grade assigned to communication-rich assessment tasks.]

Discover how health shapes our lives and the world in “Navigating Your Life: Population Health Challenges and Solutions Around the World.” This engaging course takes you through every life stage, exploring real health issues and how global inequalities impact outcomes. You’ll see how big goals like ending poverty and promoting well-being are connected to everyone’s health.

Using case studies, expert talks, and team projects, you’ll learn to identify risks, develop prevention strategies, and promote health equity. Whether it’s childhood vulnerabilities, teen mental health, or aging challenges, you’ll explore regional differences and innovative solutions.

Perfect for curious students eager to make a difference, this course will help you analyze health information, fight misinformation, share your own experiences, learn from classmates and become a health advocate. The course culminates in a chance to showcase your ideas at the HKU Student Learning Festival, inspiring positive change locally and globally.

Join us to understand the big picture of population health, share your stories, and develop the skills to make a meaningful impact on global well-being!

Course Learning Outcomes

On completing the course, students will be able to:

  1. Discuss the biological, cultural, socioeconomic, ethical, and environmental factors that influence health across different stages of the lifespan and the scientific public health principles underlying health development and impact on the society.
  2. Use appropriate sources of information and analyze data of the global burden of health conditions across the lifespan and their geographical and demographic differences.
  3. Synthesize current challenges in improving health across the lifespan and critically appraise the effectiveness of public health actions and the roles of local and international agencies and SDGs in promoting health and preventing disease throughout the lifespan.
  4. In multidisciplinary teams, propose effective preventive strategies addressing lifespan dilemmas and discuss barriers to their implementation through a longitudinal project presentation, using oral delivery skills and visual communication skills.

Offer Semester and Day of Teaching

Second semester (Wed)

Study Load

Activities Number of hours
Lectures 20
Tutorials 6
Panel discussion 4
Workshop / Seminars 6
Fieldwork / Visits 10
Reading / Self-study 45
Assessment: Group project and presentation  25
Assessment: In-class test (incl preparation) 12
Total: 128

Assessment: 100% coursework

Assessment Tasks Weighting
In-class quizzes 20
Tutorial participation 40
Group project proposal 10
Group project presentation 30

Required Reading

Week 1 

  • GBD 2023 Causes of Death Collaborators. (2025). Global burden of 292 causes of death in 204 countries and territories and 660 subnational locations, 1990-2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023. Lancet, 406(10513), 1811-1872. From https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01917-8 
  • GBD 2023 Demographics Collaborators (2025). Global age-sex-specific all-cause mortality and life expectancy estimates for 204 countries and territories and 660 subnational locations, 1950-2023: a demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023. Lancet, 406(10513), 1731-1810. From https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01330-3 
  • United Nations. Sustainable Development Goals. From https://sdgs.un.org/goals

Week 2 

Week 3 

Week 4 

  • Qiao, J., Wang, Y., Li, X., Jiang, F., Zhang, Y., Ma, J., et al. (2021). A lancet commission on 70 years of women’s reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health in China. The Lancet. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32708-2  

Week 5 

  • Ergur, A. (2020). Social Causes of Vaccine Rejection-Vaccine Indecision Attitudes in the Context of Criticisms of Modernity. The Eurasian Journal of Medicine, 52(2), 217-23. 
  • Nandi, A., & Shet, A. (2020). Why vaccines matter: understanding the broader health, economic, and child development benefits of routine vaccination. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 16(8), 1900-1904. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2019.1708669

Week 6 

Week 7 

  • Kornfield, R., Popowski, S. A., Tack, E., Svoboda, J., Herrera, M., Nguyen, T., Knapp, A. A., Mohr, D. C., & Meyerhoff, J. (2025). Designing Digital Mental Health Interventions to Meet the Needs of Older Adolescents: Qualitative Interview and Group Discussion Study. JMIR Form Res, 9(e68950), 10.2196/68950.
  • Ndour, A., Foulkes, L. (2025, August). The romanticisation of mental health problems in adolescents and its implications: a narrative review. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 34(8), 2297-2326. From https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-025-02701-0 
  • Yang, S., & Zhu, X. (2023, January 25). How Does Problematic Internet Use Influence Chinese Rural Adolescent Externalizing Problem Behaviors? The Mediating Role of Mental Health and the Moderating Role of Parental Knowledge. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 20(3), 2162. From https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032162 

Week 8

  • Heise, L., Greene, M. E., Opper, N., Stavropoulou, M., Harper, C., Nascimento, M., et. al. (2019). Gender inequality and restrictive gender norms: Framing the challenges to health. The Lancet, 393(10189), 2440-2454. From https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30652-X

Week 9 

  • GBD 2021 Tobacco Forecasting Collaborators. (2024). Forecasting the effects of smoking prevalence scenarios on years of life lost and life expectancy from 2022 to 2050: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 202. The Lancet Public Health, 9(10), e729-e744. From https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(24)00166-X  
  • Xu, Y., et, al. (2024). Diabetes in China part 1: epidemiology and risk factors. The Lancet Public Health, 9(12), e1089. From https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(24)00250-0 
  • Xu, Y., et. al. (2024). Diabetes in China part 2: prevention, challenges, and progress. The Lancet Public Health, 9(12), e1098-e1104. From https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(24)00251-2 
  • Jia, W., Chan, J. C., Wong, T. Y., & Fisher, E. B. (2025, January). Diabetes in China: epidemiology, pathophysiology and multi-omics. Nature Metabolism, 7(1), 16-34. From https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-024-01190-w

Week 10 

  • Aram, S. A. (2021). Managing occupational health among goldminers in Ghana: Modelling the likelihood of experiencing occupational related health problems. PLOS ONE, 16(7), e0254449. From https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254449
  • Fiori, K. L., & Denckla, C. A. (2012). Social Support and Mental Health in Middle-Aged Men and Women: A Multidimensional Approach. Journal of Aging and Health, 24(3). From https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264311425087 
  • Volkers, et. al. (2007). Health disparities by occupation, modified by education: a cross-sectional population study. BMJ Public Health, 7, 196. From https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-7-196

Week 11 

Course Co-ordinator and Teacher(s)

Course Co-ordinator Contact
Dr D. Vackova
School of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine		 Tel: 3917 9154
Email: vackova@hku.hk
Teacher(s) Contact
Dr D. Vackova
School of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine		 Tel: 3917 9154
Email: vackova@hku.hk
Dr A.T. Park
School of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine		 Tel: 3917 9925
Email: atpark@hku.hk