UPCD 210: Community Health & Environment

American communities face many community health challenges, among them poverty and unemployment, substance abuse, inadequate housing, unhealthy environments, underfunded public schools and colleges, environmental contamination, inefficient and inadequate delivery of health care to residents, and natural and human-induced disasters. A variety of social, political and environmental forces - from free-market policies to unsustainable environmental practices - test the ability of communities, states, and the nation to deal with these and other challenges. This course focuses on the efforts by citizens, organizations, and governments to prevent disease, promote and maintain health, and protect the environment. It emphasizes concepts and principles of community health and their relationship to the physical, mental, and social well-being of a community, which incorporates individual, families, and groups. It also examines issues of power, class, and race, as well as larger political economic forces, as they affect a community's ability to promote and sustain the health of its members.