Human health and global environmental change: A massive open online course

In May 2013, PH278x: Human Health and Global Environmental Change was launched via EdX, a platform that supports courses designed for students of all ages, means, and nations, and reached an audience of thousands of students from around the world. The course explored the human health effects of climate change, biodiversity loss, and global development and how these health outcomes can be prevented through innovation and foresight. Through a series of short lectures interspersed with assignments, students are assessed in knowledge about course subjects but also in attitudinal change as the course progressed. The wake of adverse health outcomes associated with global environmental changes flows from the developed to the developing world, as problems such as climate change and biodiversity loss emanate largely from wealthier nations and land predominantly on poorer ones. As such, specific attention was paid to the engagement and attitudes of students from developing nations during the class. PH278x, because it is freely available to anyone, sought to provide knowledge about the health dimensions of global environmental change, and how we can ensure the healthiest possible future through our actions today, to those most likely to have the least access to it.