Implementation Science: Global Perspectives (PH-0250)

Spring 2026 · PH 0250 · Tufts University · 3 credits · Undergraduate

Implementation science aims to accelerate the adoption, scale-up, and impact of evidence-based public health interventions, as new evidence-based interventions take an average of 17 years to be incorporated into routine practice. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), challenges related to implementation are even more profound. Due to limitations in financial resources, skilled health personnel, and infrastructure, evidence-based interventions discovered decades ago - including many vaccines, diagnostic tests, treatment regimens, and mental health counseling strategies - are often not widely implemented in a manner that achieves public health impact for the world’s most vulnerable populations. This course serves as an introduction to implementation science, through the lens of public health and healthcare delivery challenges faced by vulnerable populations in global settings. The curriculum will cover core implementation science theories, models, frameworks, and approaches for: (1) measuring and identifying gaps in care delivery (e.g., care cascades, delay studies, standardized patient studies); (2) assessing patient or client preferences (e.g., preference methods); (3) developing, adapting, and integrating interventions (e.g., human-centered design, ADAPT-ITT); (4) development of multicomponent implementation strategies (e.g., implementation mapping); (5) hybrid effectiveness-implementation randomized trials; and (6) measurement of implementation outcomes (e.g., the RE-AIM framework). These theories, models, frameworks, and approaches will be taught through their applications in studies in global settings, on issues like global mental health, HIV, tuberculosis, maternal and infant mortality, chronic diseases, parasitic disease elimination, and antimicrobial resistance. We will also have a special session examining strategies for assessing implementation of novel technologies in LMICs. Assignments will ask students to apply theories, models, frameworks, and approaches to major challenges in global public health and healthcare delivery.

Course codes: PH-0250, PH 0250, PH0250, PH-250, PH 250, PH250

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