Global Challenges in Reproductive Health

Haukeland University Hospital; Research Cluster for Reproductive Health; Research group; Global health: Ethics, economics and culture; Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, Centre for International Health, Department of Clinical Medicine, Section for Gender and Development - University of Bergen; and Faculty of Health and Social Science-Bergen University College

Course leaders: 

  • Torvid Kiserud, Professor, Dep. Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen and Dept. Obstetrics and Gynecology, Haukeland University Hospital

Deputy Course leaders:

External lectures / key note speakers:

  • Marge Berer “The politics of reproductive health and rights” . Marge Berer is the founder and editor of the journal Reproductive Health Matters.With a focus on reproductive and sexual health and rights, she has published extensively on HIV/AIDS, on maternal health and safe motherhood initiatives, on abortion policies and the law.
  • Mark A Hanson:  “An evolutionary perspective on reproductive health”. Professor Hanson, Director of Institute of Developmental Sciences, University of Southampton, is a leading researcher in the field of developmental origin of health and disease. He has expanded the link between fetal development and adult disease to include the health effects of ‘trans-generational adaptation’ from an evolutionary perspective. He has published a series of books to make this modern view on health and common diseases accessible to people of all walks of life.

Short Course description


Maternal, perinatal and infant health and mortality have been addressed in a number of global health initiatives, and are the targets of millennium development goals 4 and 5. Nonetheless, the morbidity and mortality figures have remained unacceptably high. Global reproductive health challenges represent medically, politically, socially and morally highly complex phenomena. This course will demonstrate how diverse theoretical- and methodological approaches generate different kinds of knowledge to comprehend the complexity of adverse maternal-, perinatal- and infant health outcomes.

Aims of the course:

To give a comprehensive introduction to the study of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity in a global context.

Specific learning objectives:

  • The student gains knowledge on global maternal mortality and morbidity related problems
  • The student gains knowledge on neonatal mortality and morbidity and on foetal growth and its consequences for development and health
  • The student gains knowledge on epidemiological-, qualitative (ethnographic and qualitative interviewing), registry-based and other methods with which to approach the topic
  • The student gains insights into biomedical, political, economic, ethical and evolutionary perspectives with which to approach and view the field of global reproductive health
  • The student gains experience in information retrieval and critical assessment of research results.

For full course description and syllabus: click here (PDF)