COM HLT 132
Health, Disease, and Health Services in Latin America
Description: Lecture, four hours. Introduction to health, disease, and health services in Latin America, with emphasis on epidemiology, health administration, medical anthropology, and nutrition. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - Biggest qualm with this class has to be the exam. There was only one final exam for the whole quarter, which was nice to not have a midterm, but I felt that the questions were really specific and focused on statistics and random knowledge memorization (ie. prevalence of diseases per country). There was some multiple choice and some free response but I ended the class not sure where my grade would land because I definitely guessed on some. And it's not like more studying would have helped me, I did review a lot of material and some questions that were asked simply were not emphasized in class. There were also 2 papers which were .. doable I suppose? Dr. Taub is a decently nice person, but for some reason doesn't like it when students take notes on iPads or laptops. This was discouraging because there were instances where activities were only allowed to be submitted on paper and students were told in class to put their note-taking devices away (to ensure we wouldn't be distracted during class). I felt this policy was strange and left many students staring at the slides, unable to take notes or retain much information from the 3 hour seminar. Also the way individual lectures were structured was disorganized and didn't facilitate much discussion (which I was hoping to experience from a class of only 20 people) but a list of words on a blank white slide did little to fully illustrate the magnitude of suffering and health problems in Latin America. Small point but it also felt like the "savior complex" was promoted in a couple lectures and that just didn't feel right. If you have other options, I'd only recommend to take this class if you're really passionate about Latin America, natural disasters, etc. Food is mentioned but I feel that the class is more about structural issues and disease than malnutrition.
Fall 2022 - Biggest qualm with this class has to be the exam. There was only one final exam for the whole quarter, which was nice to not have a midterm, but I felt that the questions were really specific and focused on statistics and random knowledge memorization (ie. prevalence of diseases per country). There was some multiple choice and some free response but I ended the class not sure where my grade would land because I definitely guessed on some. And it's not like more studying would have helped me, I did review a lot of material and some questions that were asked simply were not emphasized in class. There were also 2 papers which were .. doable I suppose? Dr. Taub is a decently nice person, but for some reason doesn't like it when students take notes on iPads or laptops. This was discouraging because there were instances where activities were only allowed to be submitted on paper and students were told in class to put their note-taking devices away (to ensure we wouldn't be distracted during class). I felt this policy was strange and left many students staring at the slides, unable to take notes or retain much information from the 3 hour seminar. Also the way individual lectures were structured was disorganized and didn't facilitate much discussion (which I was hoping to experience from a class of only 20 people) but a list of words on a blank white slide did little to fully illustrate the magnitude of suffering and health problems in Latin America. Small point but it also felt like the "savior complex" was promoted in a couple lectures and that just didn't feel right. If you have other options, I'd only recommend to take this class if you're really passionate about Latin America, natural disasters, etc. Food is mentioned but I feel that the class is more about structural issues and disease than malnutrition.
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