Undergraduate and master's degrees for humanitarian and development health careers
- Page updated onApril 17, 2026
There is no single path to access the most common professional profiles in international cooperation and humanitarian action in health. A simple glance at multiple professional cooperation profiles on Linkedin and job offers on any platform allows you to see the great diversity of options to achieve similar work objectives, or at least within the same professional sector.
In any case, a good education is essential for aid workers. In many cases, candidates are typically required to have a solid academic background in public health, international cooperation, and project management.
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Undergraduate education and intercalated BSc courses in global health
While a university degree does shape future career options in humanitarian action, it only goes so far. In fact, only a minority of professionals, even within health-focused humanitarian organizations, have undergraduate degrees in health sciences. Many roles call for skills in fields like administration or social sciences. Furthermore, postgraduate studies, short-course certifications, and sector-specific experience can help shape one’s career path in various directions. That said, there are many positions in international health cooperation that do require a degree in medicine, nursing, or pharmacy, though only a few specify a particular field or specialization. Often, any of these degrees will suffice if (of course) the candidate meets the additional qualifications.
In some countries, universities offer intercalated degrees (Bachelor of Sciences or BSc) in global health, humanitarian aid, or international disaster management, among other subjects, lasting one year. These degrees can only be taken by intercalating them within undergraduate studies in certain related fields. This modality, which is practically unknown in many other countries, allows students who have already completed several years of their degree to finish a curriculum similar to a master's before graduating. It also represents an excellent opportunity to learn a second language (or improve it), gain the experience of living abroad, and start building a network of contacts who may one day also work in the sector from different contexts.
Postgraduate training for international health aid workers
Master's and diplomas in public health
Training in public health, global health, or humanitarian health, whether completed nationally or abroad, is not only a requirement for many positions in international health cooperation but is practically a highly desirable foundational background for any of them. This type of training is also often accessible to individuals from both health sciences and social sciences, enabling public health work to be truly multidisciplinary.
There are countless Master's (and diploma) programs in Public Health, each with different curricula. Generally, all of these programs focus on addressing health, health issues, and their determinants from a population perspective. They typically cover subjects such as epidemiology, statistics, research methods (both quantitative and qualitative) in health sciences, health systems and their components, health service management, health policies, ethics in public health, and health promotion, among others.
These programs, however, are often focused on the health context and health systems of the countries where they are offered and barely touch on global health or humanitarian health action in any depth. At most, they might offer an elective related to health in humanitarian contexts. Such courses typically cover only basic aspects of humanitarian architecture (such as humanitarian actors or the humanitarian coordination system) and briefly address some health priorities in humanitarian settings.
Master's and diplomas in global health and humanitarian health
Global health master's degrees (MSc Global Health), less common than public health ones, cover topics such as epidemiology and global health issues, health systems (across a wide range of countries and contexts), global health policy, and global health research methodology. These programmes also engage with the realities of low- and middle-income countries, addressing priorities such as reproductive and maternal health, child health, vaccination, malnutrition, mental health, and infectious diseases, and often include optional modules that allow for deeper exploration of humanitarian health topics.
Depending on the curriculum, these educational programs may also cover topics related to the health issues of refugees, health and conflict, health in relation to poverty and development, climate change, disasters, and gender inequality as a determinant of health.
However, most master's programs and diplomas in global health do not cover general aspects of international cooperation and humanitarian action, or practical aspects related to how to assess the needs of the population, design relevant actions, implement them, and monitor and evaluate them.
Master's and diplomas in humanitarian health action
Some master's degrees address humanitarian action from a specific sector such as health, covering both health-specific topics and aspects related to the functioning of the humanitarian system in emergencies and project cycle management. These programmes are, however, scarce. Fortunately, some public health or global health master's degrees also allow students to select a set of modules (or "concentration") tailored to different themes, making it possible to build a programme of study suited to individual needs.
Master's and diplomas in international cooperation, humanitarian action and project management
Those who already have an adequate background in public or global health may choose to complete it directly with a program of studies that covers those aspects of international cooperation and humanitarian action that they are unfamiliar with.
Many universities offer master's programmes on these topics, with different names and curricula. These programmes are designed to train students in project management and international development programmes. To this end, they include modules on sociology, economics, and the geopolitical context of different countries and regions, project cycle management, social science research, international development cooperation policies and the actors involved, and other topics such as human rights, gender, the environment, and migration. Some of these master's degrees include specific training on humanitarian action, differentiated from more transformative development approaches.
Other master's degrees focus directly on humanitarian action, covering in greater depth than others topics related to conflict, forced displacement, international humanitarian law, disaster risk management, and even humanitarian logistics.
Some institutions offer specialised courses, shorter than a master's degree and often far more practical. They tend to focus on more specific topics, such as humanitarian and development project and programme management. The best ones include a field placement period (sometimes up to 6 months) and are highly regarded by many humanitarian and international development organisations.
External links
- George Washington University – Milken Institute School of Public Health. Humanitarian Health and Disaster Response MPH.
- Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health. Academic programs.
- MSF. Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine course.
- University of London. MSc Health in Humanitarian Crises.
- Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Master of Public Health (Humanitarian Health).
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Health in Humanitarian Crises by Distance Learning.
- Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon. Erasmus Mundus Joint Master on Coordinated Humanitarian Response, Health and Displacement (HumanResponse).
- UAB. Máster en Salud Internacional y Cooperación.
- University of Alcalá. Master’s Degree in Health Humanitarian Action.
- Institut Bioforce. Empowering humanitarians.