Maternal & Child Health

MPH Concentration in Maternal & Child Health

The mission of the concentration in Maternal & Child Health is to improve the health of women, children, families, and communities, with a strong commitment to address health inequities and the systems and policies that contribute to them. To this mission, the concentration faculty brings life-course, gender-based, and ecologic perspectives. The primary focus is on the United States; however, the faculty, curriculum, and scholarly activities include countries across the development spectrum. The faculty conduct research, education, and service in partnership with community-based organizations, advocates, and local, national, and international government agencies.

Students in the MCH concentration explore the unique physical needs of this population through coursework in maternal and infant health, child and adolescent health, and community-based needs assessment in maternal and child health. They then place this knowledge into a socio-political context, obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the cultural factors affecting women, children, adolescents, and the larger community. The curriculum:

  • assumes that the health of women, children, adolescents, families, communities, and society at large are integrally related.
  • emphasizes learning by doing.
  • translates research into practice.
  • launches a life-long process of self-directed learning and action.

Graduates from the MCH concentration are equipped with the knowledge, critical thinking ability, technical skills, and professional vitality essential to assessing community needs and assets, designing and evaluating programs and policies, and advocating for health equity. They are employed as managers, researchers, and advocates in a variety of private and public sector organizations and agencies in the United States and around the world.

Concentration Requirements

MCH concentrators work directly with their advisors in planning a course of study that addresses both the students’ interests and the MCH concentration requirements. In addition to meeting the MPH degree requirements, MCH concentrators must earn a minimum of 16 concentration credits.

MCH Required Courses

To complete the 16 concentration credits, all concentrators must complete the following courses (total of 8 credits):

  • MC 725 Women, Children, and Adolescents: Public Health Approaches
  • SB 820 Assessment and Planning for Health Promotion

All students must complete a minimum of 8 additional credits in MCH courses from the following list of approved courses:

  • MC 705 Safer Sex in the City: From Biology to Policy
  • MC 759 Perinatal Epidemiology
  • MC 763 Maternal and Child Health Policymaking
  • MC 770 Children with Special Health Care Needs
  • MC 771 Topics in Maternal and Child Health
  • MC 775 Health Disparities and Vulnerable Populations
  • MC 782 Women and Substance Use
  • MC 785 Reproductive Health Advocacy
  • MC 786 Immigrant Family Health: Public Health Across Borders
  • MC 795 Adolescent Health: Understanding Public Health Risk and Opportunity
  • MC 802 Leading Community Health Initiatives: Medicine and Public Health as Partners
  • MC 815 Sexual and Reproductive Health Advocacy: Culture, Science, and Politics
  • MC 840 Women and Health Policy: Gender, Evidence, and Politics
  • MC 845 Perinatal Health Services
  • MC 850 Seminar in MCH Policy and Practice
  • MC 871 Advanced Topics in Maternal and Child Health

The following courses also carry MCH concentration credit:

  • EP 759 Reproductive Epidemiology
  • EP 775 Social Epidemiology
  • IH 735 Gender, Sexuality, Power, and Inequity in International Health
  • IH 753 Beyond Reproductive Health: Women’s Health in Developing Countries
  • IH 766 Sexual and Reproductive Health in Disaster Settings
  • IH 881 Evidence-Based Strategies for International Reproductive Health
  • IH 887 Planning and Managing MCH Programs in Developing Countries
  • SB 750 Intimate Partner Violence
  • SB 751 Sexual Violence: Public Health Perspectives in Intervention and Prevention
  • SB 808 Merging Clinical and Population Based Perspective in Public Health
  • SB 821 Intervention Strategies for Health Promotion
  • SB 822 Quantitative Methods of Program Evaluation

Areas of Emphasis

Maternal and Child Health concentrators may elect to focus on one of five optional emphasis areas:

  • Reproductive and Women’s Health
  • Child and Adolescent Health
  • Family and Community Health
  • MCH Epidemiology
  • Policy Making and Advocacy for Women, Children, and Families

Each emphasis is interdisciplinary and combines offerings in MCH with other courses at BUSPH.

MCH Culminating Experience

There are two options for the Culminating Experience in MCH. Students must select an option, meet with their advisors to plan the experience, submit a signed Culminating Experience Approval Form, and complete the drafts and final product according to the established deadlines. The options are:

  1. Integrative paper
  2. E-Portfolio and Competency Assessment for students in the MCH Leadership Education Program

DrPH of Public Health

See: www-test.bu.edu/academics/archive/2010-2011/sph/programs/public-healt/