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HLTH 260Social Determinants of Health

Units
0.50
Faculty
Health
Subject
Public Health Sciences
Cross-listed
GSJ 260

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 4 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: scheduled, 2 lecture sections. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

Enormous inequalities in health persist both within and between countries. These inequalities can be seen across various axes including gender, ethnicity, and access to material resources. As such, those relatively deprived/underprivileged have substantially poorer health than those better off. The course will demonstrate the extent of inequalities in health, and it will explore current theories explaining how inequalities arise, focusing on behavioural/cultural, psychosocial, and structural/material explanations. The course will also investigate the role of various approaches to economic and social policy in creating or reducing inequalities.

Prerequisites

  • Complete 1 of the following

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

Winter 2027 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 00128320 / 135MW 14:30–15:50
LEC 7011089122 / 9999Online or by arrangement

Reviewed on UW Flow

67% liked it78% easy58% useful

From 91 ratings and 23 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • Course is horribly unstructured and the prof was really disorganized. Group quizzes make up most of your mark, along with creating a really vague end of the term group poster. The lectures have no point to them and there is no powerpoint material to follow along with, you will end up teaching yourself using the online textbook.

    Mar 2019 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Personally, I enjoyed Kelly Anthony - her classes felt like TedTalks, was very engaging, and shared so many personal stories. All the assessments follow the same format. Definitely need to go to class because the TA notes don't encompass everything. She makes it very clear what will be tested as long as you pay attention during class.

    Sep 2026 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • As a REC student I took this class since I am interested in social determinants of health. The content is very interesting and helped me understand more about what this class is like. I had someone named Kelly Anthony who is a super nice prof. She doesn't put much notes on her lecture slides but she does talk a lot which is what makes this class so engaging. In terms of workload, we had class activities (28%), CDI Perspective Modules (12%), and three quizzes (the first two quizzes are worth 15% and the third quiz is worth 30%). The quizzes are open book however they are not straight forward thinking questions, they require you to deepen your understanding and think critically (all questions…

    May 2026 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Dr. Anthony is literally my favourite prof. She is engaging and interesting and I loved how she brought in people that worked in the fields that interacted with the specific social determinant that we were discussing.
    You do have to do the readings for this class and there are participation assignments. This is a class that you have to go to because her quizzes are linked to things that are only said in class and her slides don't include that. The TAs would post notes after class but wouldn't always include everything that was important for the quiz.
    There isn't a final exam in this course which was really nice.

    Sep 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Kelly is a fantastic prof. She likes to teach lectures using stories and is very engaging and quite funny. To succeed in the class you HAVE to go to lectures not only to be present to do the in-class activities but because many of the quiz questions are based off what she says in class. Take detailed notes on what she says and do the required readings and you are pretty much set for the quizzes. There's also lots of chances to get extra-credit and she likes to offer bonus questions too.

    Aug 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

15 posts and comments in 12 threads mention HLTH 260, December 2011 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Spring 2024

Health Sciences Year 2 1 point, 3 comments

u/No_Junket5699: “… (now HLTH 217) 2B: BIOL 239 Genetics HLTH 230 Introduction to Health Informatics HLTH 260 Social Determinants of Health I'm also planning on taking BIOL 239 in my 2A term, as it's offered online. If someone has any insights on that as well I would really appreciate it! …”

u/RoseAqua_: “… I found the textbook to be really helpful in understanding stuff taught in class :) Hlth 260… I honestly thought it would be a bird class but honestly the professor made it extra hard due to having unorganized slides, being behind on content ( ex if the syllabus says week 3 is …”

u/Dimtar_: “- HLTH 201/205/230 you’ll be fine - HLTH 204’s difficulty varies on who’s teaching it, more annoying than difficult - same for HLTH 260, it seems birdy but you may be surprised - KIN 217/BIOL 239 are pretty tough but if you stay caught up you’ll be fine. …”

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Fall 2023

Bird HLTH courses 1 point, 1 comment

“Hi I’m wondering if anyone from faculty of health knows easy Hlth courses. Many of our courses say in person I’ve had courses that are fully assignment based and require very little course knowledge. …”

u/Soft-Presentation-95: “… HLTH 260 was easy. It was not necessarily based on assignments, but open book tests that were short plus a few assignments and participation marks. Dr. Anthony is also a great prof. HLTH 230 was very easy, but boring and had quite a bit of group work. …”

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Winter 2023

Winter 2022

spring courses for health studies? 1 point, 3 comments

“i wanna take a course online during the spring, i'm in my 1B term of health studies currently. any upper years who have good recommendations for what i should take?”

[deleted]: “Could take HLTH 260 or 230 which I believe is required for second year. Honestly it’s better to get all the health courses done and over with so you can work towards a minor or specialization without worrying about it. …”

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Winter 2021

Prof not opening test?? 9 points, 6 comments

u/srbbbbb: “… I’m currently in HLTH 260 and our final test was supposed to open March 29th. It still isn’t open, and she’s posted announcements saying alternate days she’ll open it but never honors those either. She literally hasn’t even given us a reason it isn’t opened yet either. …”

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Fall 2019

Spring 2019

Winter 2019

HLTH 260 6 points, 4 comments

u/aecjcc: “Hi, I want to switch into HLTH 260 before the end of the week and just wondering if someone could tell me if it’s a good class/textbook required etc etc. Thanks!”

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Spring 2018

Spring 2015

Fall 2011

What's your most/least favourite course? 12 points, 77 comments

“Favourite: Algebra. MATH 135. Least Favourite: Linear Algebra. MATH 136. Frigging hate matrices. Tell us what your favourite/least favourite courses are and why! …”

u/oublie: “Favourite: HLTH 260; interesting and the easiest 95+ anyone in the Health Studies program will ever obtain. Least favourite: HLTH 220; somehow it was mind-numbingly awful despite the interesting course description.”

u/monkeymanJJ: “I completely agree with you about HLTH 260. Not sure who you took it with, but I had Jessup and those T/Th lectures killed me. Got to admit though, the group project wasn't too bad, but that just may have been my group.”

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Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar