Understanding the processes and actors involved in policy development is important for public health practitioners to be effective in any setting, but especially in low- and middle-income countries. This course provides: 1) Provide an overview of political frameworks and theories related to policy development and offers practical perspectives on their application to health policy, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. 2) Analytical tools to understand political economy of health policy, that is how the political environment, country institutions and economic and planning systems come together to influence the process of health policy development. 3) Introduces the main actors, processes and contextual features that are typical of policy development. 4) Topics covered encompass national policy and planning frameworks; relationships with aid donors and issues of aid harmonization and alignment; the role of policy networks and in particular civil society actors; policy implementers and their role in shaping policy development; and mechanisms for global health governance. Teaching will draw upon examples on human resources for health, health financing, and global response to COVID-19, and the health system in Taiwan. The course is designed to be accessible and relevant to students with varied interest. Theories will be introduced briefly at the beginning of the course and then elaborated through application to specific topics.