Epidemiology

This course offers a foundational understanding of epidemiology, the cornerstone of public health, and its application in addressing population health challenges. It is designed to equip participants with essential knowledge and skills to describe, measure, and analyze health and disease patterns in populations.

Participants will explore core epidemiological concepts, including measures of disease burden, association, and impact, and delve into various study designs and biostatistical methods. Practical components, such as public health surveillance, outbreak investigation, and data quality assessment, will provide hands-on experience in applying epidemiological principles to real-world situations.

1. Define epidemiology and explain its importance in public health practice.
2. Use descriptive epidemiology to characterize health-related events by time, place, and person.
3. Calculate and interpret morbidity measures such as incidence and prevalence rates, and disability metrics.
4. Understand and compute mortality-based measures and composite indicators, including life expectancy metrics.
5. Explain and apply measures of association and measures of impact to assess relationships between exposures and outcomes.
6. Compare different study designs and understand their strengths, limitations, and applications in epidemiological research.
7. Demonstrate basic biostatistical methods for summarizing and analyzing health data.
8. Understand the principles and processes of public health surveillance.
9. Execute outbreak investigations and write comprehensive outbreak reports.
10. Analyze and visually present epidemiological data effectively.
11. Recognize the importance of data quality and apply methods to ensure accuracy and reliability in epidemiological studies.