Introduction
to Epidemiology (3
credits)
Objectives
of the course
1.
Introduce
students to the subject and methods of Epidemiology, emphasizing how it
forms one of the foundations of public health practice and research;
2.
Emphasize
the distinctive components of the epidemiological approach:
measurement, comparison, and inference, as well as the different roles
of epidemiology in description of a situation, looking for trends over
time, exploring associations, predicting outcomes, investigating
epidemics, and establishing causal links in disease occurrence;
3.
Introduce
students to elements of epidemiological study design, and basic
concepts such as reliability, validity, bias, and confounding; and
4.
Introduce
some of the basic software for epidemiological data analysis such as
EPI-INFO and EPI-DATA
Contents
History
of Epidemiology as a
discipline, Measures of disease frequency, Describing disease
occurrence- time,
place and persons, Measures of association or effect measures,
Surveillance,
Outbreak investigation, Errors in measurement- random error and
systematic
error, Reliability and validity, Comparing groups, Study design,
Observational
designs- cohort and case control, Experimental designs- RCT, community
intervention trials, and meta-analysis, Chance, bias and confounding,
informatics in Epidemiology, Epi data, Epi Info.
Basic
Biostatistics
(4 credits)
Objectives
1.
To
introduce fundamentals of Biostatistics. Emphasis
will be on the concepts of statistics, principles of statistical data
analysis
and interpretation of findings.
2.
The course module consists of about 5 class hours per week and 60 class hours
for the entire course that consists of lecture
sessions and
lab/workshop sessions.
Contents
Review
of essential mathematics.
Demographic
rates and ratios- Population growth rates-Age standardization- Life
table
construction-Agesex composition of populations-Demographic.
transition.
Statistics in medicine, public health and in other
disciplines-Types of measurement scales-data and variables-Methods to
summarize
data-Tabulation.
Graphical
presentation of data.
Measures
of central location-Symmetry and Skewness of distributions-Measures of
spread-Transforming variables.
Stem-leaf-Plots,
Box plots
Scatter
Plots-Correlations-Simple
linear regression
Introduction to probability-Probability
distributions-Binomial distribution-Normal (Gaussian) distribution-Tail
probabilities of probability distributions
Introduction
to statistical inference-Introduction to simple random
sampling-Sampling
distributions-Standard error-Standard normal distribution-Student’s t
Confidence
intervals-Hypothesis testing-Type I error-Type II
error-One-sample tests-Two sample tests for means and proportions-Z
test, Students-t
test-Paired t-test-Chi-square test.
Health
and Development (3 credits)
Objectives
1.
Provide
an in-depth understanding of various frameworks on social determinants
of health and inter linkages between health
and development at local,
national and global levels and be able to apply that in health program
planning.
2.
Introduce
the concepts and indicators of development, globalization and poverty
and be able to apply Health Impact Assessment (HIA) as a methodology to
assess the impact of development policies on health’
3.
To
familiarize the concepts of health equity and various sources of
inequalities in health and the policy and program approaches to promote
health equity and make health services accessible to the poor
Contents
Health
and illness: definitions and
indicators, Frameworks to examine social determinants of health,
Concepts and
indicators of economic development, growth and poverty; human
development,
human capability, poverty, Development and poverty in India,
Understanding
globalization, inter linkages between various factors influencing
health,
Health and development in history: Health transition theory, Concepts
and
measurement of equity and inequity in Health Concepts and
principles of
health impact assessment, Changing paradigms of health and health care,
Making
health and health care universally accessible.
Health
and Environment (3 credits)
Objectives
The
course on health and environment
is designed to enable students of public health to
1. Understand the environmental determinants of human and ecosystem health
2. Learn the basic concepts of environmental health sciences and key
environmental
health issues with a global perspective
3.
Develop approaches for assessment, prevention and control of
environmental and
occupational health issues that pose risk to human health
Contents
Definition,
general principles and overview of environmental health,
human-environment
interactions and their impact on environment and human health, key
methodologies for environmental health including environmental
epidemiology,
measurement issues in environmental health, toxicology and
environmental
microbiology, basic concepts in occupational epidemiology and
toxicology, key
environmental and occupational health threats like chemical, microbial
and
physical agent contamination, food safety, waste management, radiation,
chemical and physical hazards and injuries
Environmental
processes and disease ecology: environment, and infectious diseases;
environment and non communicable diseases, built environment and public
health
Global
environmental health issues including climate change and biodiversity,
resource
extraction and land use change, natural and human disasters
Environmental
and occupational health policy and regulations - international and
national
organisations, treaties, regulations and protocols, policies and
programmes
related to control of environmental public health risks, basic concepts
of
environmental impact assessment and environmental health management
Basic Health Economics (2 Credits)
Objectives
This course approaches health care from the
economist’s point of view. The
objective of the course is to teach basic conceptual tools and
theoretical ideas of economics for better understanding of issues in
health
care systems. At
the end
of the course the students will understand the demand
for health, supply of health & health care, costs,
cost-effectiveness,
health insurance, markets, market imperfections and failure.
Contents
Demand
for health / demand for
health services
Preference
and indifference
from
preference to demand
determinants
of demand
Elasticity
of demand / measurement
of elasticity Price / income
Production
forces / factors of
production
Efficient
use of resources /
alternative /technical efficiency
inputs
and diminishing marginal
returns
elements
of cost – cost curves
markets
/ market failure /
governments / public goods
information,
agency supplier induced
demand
information
agency supplier induced
demand
economic
evaluation : cost /cost
benefit / cost utility
interest
rates / discounting / time
value of money
measuring
benefits / sensitivity
analysis
decision
analysis
Gender Issues in Health (2
credits)
Objectives
1.
To recognise the relevance of gender in public health
2.
To learn to use gender as an analytical category in public health
research
3.
To develop skills to apply gender analysis in planning, advocacy and
implementation of public health policies and programmes
Contents
Introduction to Gender including concepts of gender
and the tools of gender analysis; Gender in public health
research,
Gender perspectives in specific health conditions, such as reproductive
health,
communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases etc., Gender analysis
of
Health Policies and Programmes and Health Systems Functioning
Ethics in Public Health (2 credits)
Objectives
1. Enable recognition of the various concepts of
ethics in health research
2. Develop knowledge of the existing guidelines for
ethics in health research and
3. Develop skills to
identify ethical problems in health research and use ethical principles
to
resolve them
4. Sensitise participants to the ethical issues that come up
in the course of public health practice
5. Facilitate ethically informed decisions, policies and
programmes
6. Equip participants with skills to advocate for ethical
decision making
Contents
I. Concepts and principles of bioethics: Principles,
Informed consent,
privacy and confidentiality
II. Ethics in Research: Ethics of clinical trials and
interventions, Ethics of priority setting in developing countries for
health
research and standards of care in health research and interventions,
Conflict
of interest and integrity in research
III. Ethical review processes: Ethical review
committees-roles
and responsibilities, managing conflict of interest in review
processes,
Evaluation of risk and benefit in research.
IV. Ethical reasoning: Theories and principles in the
practice of public health; human rights, ethics and law
V. Ethical issues in resource allocation:
setting priorities and the ethics of selecting criteria for setting
priorities
– efficiency vs equity, benchmarks of fairness, other criteria used for
prioritising, etc
VI. Ethical issues in programme management: issues of
governance of public health programmes, surveillance and monitoring and
evaluation, ethical issues in the management of chronic and infectious
diseases
management, particularly with reference to epidemics
(quarantine/isolation
issues), etc
VII. Ethical issues in disaster management: man made
and natural disasters, ethics of triaging, ethics of surveillance in
disaster
situation, etc
VIII. Ethical issues in mass based public health
programmes: ethics of managing public health programmes and the
intended and unintended
consequences of these interventions
IX. Professional ethics for Public health
practitioners: Developing empathy, resolving conflicts and building
consensus,
conflict of interest, issues of integrity, transparency and
accountability,
communication skills, etc
Health
Policy Analysis I (2 credits)
Objectives
1.
Introduce
students to different types of health systems existing in the world,
their merits and demerits
2.
Familiarize
students with concepts relating to health systems such as coverage,
financing, quality of care, regulation, insurance etc
3.
Impart
a general understanding of the logic and process of public
policy-making in health
4.
To
enable students to undertake preliminary analysis of health policy
issues and decisions based on this understanding
5.
Introduce
students to some analytical tools such as policy relevant epidemiology,
economic analysis, decision analysis, qualitative methods and log-frame
analysis used in policy studies
6.
Enable
students to understand the role of consultancy in the policy process,
with emphasis on the value of communication skills
Contents
Health
Systems in general, Provision, Financing, Regulation and control, Goals
of
health systems- equity, efficiency, Historical development of health
systems of
the world, The UK health system, The health system of USA, Health
systems of
western Europe, Problems of restructuring- health systems of erstwhile
socialist countries, The Health Policy Process, Models of Policy
making-
Unicentric, Multicentric and Pluricentric, Goals of Policy Making,
Theories of
the policy process- structural, elitist, Marxist and others, How do we
analyze
policy, Evidence Based Policy, Tools of the trade- Quantitative and
Qualitative
Policy Analysis, Policy Communication- writing and presenting opinions.
The
course will be heavy on
readings, light on number crunching.
Healthcare
System in India (2 credits)
Objectives
1.
Understand
the philosophy and organization of healthcare system in India
2.
Analyze
major national health programs from a public health perspective.
3.
Evaluate
healthcare system functioning in different states, organizations and
institutions.
4.
Explore
and identify critical gaps and probable solutions
Contents
The
principles and pattern of various healthcare systems in
the world with emphasis to Indian healthcare system; Healthcare
scenario in
India; Evolution of Indian healthcare system and the major Committee
Reports,
various organized (public and private) healthcare infrastructures in
India;
Alma Ata and Primary Health Care; Organization of healthcare units at
national,
state, district and village level; Major national health programs like
National
Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Revised National Tuberculosis Program
(RNTCP),
National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), National Mental Health
Program
(NMHP) etc ; Principles and practice of health systems research
taking
the example of experiments with the routine Health Information
Management
System (HIMS) in Kerala. Module shall include exposure visits to
relevant
healthcare institutions and at least one guided field visit.
<<BACK
Health
Management (4 Credits)
Objectives
The
objective of the course is to equip the students with necessary skills
of
management and managerial analysis. At the end of the course it will
help them
to communicate effectively. The students will develop social values for
managing public health and learn to apply the basic skills of
management. The
course will inculcate leadership qualities and articulation. At the end
of the
course the students will understand how the organizational factors
influence
the health services and health of population. Since there are four
parts for
the module there can be four objectives also.
Contents
The
course has four sub modules of 1
Credit each. The first module is Introduction to Management and
Communication.
This includes, History of Management, Management Principles and
Practice,
Introduction to Health Organization Structure Function and Design,
Leadership,
Supervision, Motivation, Resource availability, pooling and utilization
of
resources, Healthcare planning, organizational Communication,
Transactional
Analysis, Negotiation, Empathy, and Team building. The second sub
module on
Human Resource Management includes, Performance appraisal, Staffing,
Metrics,
Time management, Negotiation, Management in Human Resources,
Organization and
Management, Organization Assessment, Management of Organization Change,
Managerial Problem analysis and decision-making, Decision analysis,
Conflict
Management, Stress management Introduction to Strategic Planning and
Marketing,
Social Marketing, Health Communication . Third sub module
on Financial
Management includes, Financial Management Foundations, Management
Accounting in
Healthcare, Budget analysis, Balance Sheet, Financial analysis,
Analysis of
audited financial statements, Cash flow, WCM , Financial
procedure.
This sub-module also includes quality; Quality of Care, Project
Management
Principles, and materials management. The fourth sub module on
Computers in
Health Management includes MIS in Healthcare, Computers in
Health
Administration, Database principles and design for health application,
Health
Informatics and Management, Decision Support System and Field Training.
Quantitative
Research Methods (2 Credits)
Objectives
At
the end of the course module the participants will be able to identify
an
appropriate topic for research in general and for the MPH dissertation
in
particular, frame research questions, select an appropriate study
design and
methods of data collection, develop tools for data collection, collect
data,
enter data using Excel or SPSS, analyze data, and write a report
Contents
1.
Objectives
of the course and the need for undertaking an independent research
project for the MPH program.(1)
2.
Literature
review including various style of referencing, method of reviewing
literature and how this has to be reproduced in the dissertation or a
research paper with appropriate citation (2)
3.
Choosing
a research topic in general and specifically for the MPH dissertation,
framing research questions and objectives of the study (1)
4.
Identification
of variables, defining each variable and operationlizing them (1)
5.
Various
study designs including cross sectional, case control and cohort (1)
6.
Different
methods of data collection; questionnaire method, interview schedules,
and some physical measurements like weight, height, waist circumference
(1)
7.
Organizational
aspects of field survey, logistics of field survey organization,
training of staff transportation etc. (1)
8.
Sample
size estimation, sample selection procedures, sample frame (2)
9.
Development
of a questionnaire and interview schedule and the difference between
the two (2)
10.
Pilot
testing of instrument, time taken for one schedule or one set of
questionnaire administration, language barrier, sensitivity of
questions, feasibility of getting response etc. (1)
11.
Importance
of translation and back translation of the instrument (1)
12.
Scales
of measurement, reliability and validity and the difference between the
two. (1)
13.
Organization
of data sheets, manual checking of data sheets, grouping them, storage
and transportation. (1)
14.
Data
entry using excel and SPSS, data cleaning. (2)
15.
Univariate,
bivariate, and multivariate analysis (1)
16.
Quantitative
Research Methods in Health Economics and Policy Research (1)
17.
Writing
a research report with executive summary and a research article for
scientific journal with an abstract. (2)
Anthropological Perspectives in Health (1
credit)
Objectives
¨To understand the relevance of medical
anthropological research for
public health
¨To study the anthropological approach to health
research in terms of concepts, theories and methods
¨To learn the use of medical anthropological
approaches for the study of particular health conditions and/or systems
Contents
Medical Anthropology for Public
Health Research: Medical Anthropology for Public Health Research
covers the complimentary skills required with respect to
anthropological and
quantitative approaches.
The Anthropological Approach: The
anthropological approach covers issues related to the concepts and
theoretical
perspectives in medical anthropology that are essential to an
understanding of
health and illness
Anthropology of health systems: This
module highlights the relevance of anthropological approaches in
analysing
health systems
Focused Health Ethnographies: This
module familiarises the participant to the use of medical
anthropological
approaches to the study of particular health conditions and facilitates
the
examination of the use anthropological approaches to the study of
selected
issues such as non-communicable diseases, communicable diseases,
reproductive
health, etc
<<BACK
Qualitative Research Methods (2
credits)
Objectives
The participants will be able:
·
To identify the need for qualitative approaches to research in public
health
·
To recognise the complimentary nature of this approach to
research
·
To
gain an understanding of some of the qualitative methods relevant for
Public
Health: their use and limitations
·
To learn to use these qualitative methods appropriately and
·
To be able to undertake analysis of data collected using qualitative
methods
Contents
The Course consists of three modules, the introductory
module, the applications module and the analysis module.
Introduction:
Introduction to the relevance of qualitative methods in public health
research,
the anthropologist’s worldview, and the various methods available, Applications:
Ethnographic interviews, observations (participant and
non-participant), group
interviews and discussions, other methods less used such as case
studies, pile
sorts, ethno-physiological representations, etc.
Analysis: Translation
and transcription, coding, thematic linking and introduction to
computer based
qualitative data analysis. Ethical issues in qualitative research in
public
health – issues relating to appropriateness of method, its use,
analysis and
reporting
Chronic
Disease Epidemiology (2
Credits)
Objectives
At
the end of the course module the participants will be able to
understand
importance of chronic non-communicable diseases, trends, distribution,
common
NCDs, major risk factors of NCDs, WHO steps approach for NCD risk
factor
surveillance and prevention and control of NCDs at various levels.
Contents
1. Objectives
and scope of the course
2. Health
Transition, difference between NCDs and communicable diseases, Major
driving forces of NCDs including underlying determinants, make a case
for the need for epidemiology of NCDs for policy and program
3. Data
analysis based on current NCD data globally and regionally
4. NCD
Risk factor surveillance, identify major common risk factors for NCD at
global and regional level, relevance of NCD risk factor surveillance,
outline the WHO STEPs approach to surveillance of NCD risk factors
5. Quality
and measurement issues of NCD data, major sources of NCD data, key
measurement issues in collecting analyzing and interpreting data and
limitations of population level data
6. NCD
InfoBase, purpose and context of NCD InfoBase, demonstrate the use of
InfoBase, potential for comparison of NCDs and risk factors of NCDs
within countries and between countries
7. Standard
operating procedures for physical and biological measurements,
understand the importance of clear protocols and guidelines, importance
of training and supervision to reduce inter-observer variation, sources
of bias and errors in measurements
8. Risk
factor modification, provide evidence for the NCD risk factor reduction
at population level, global strategies like FCTC and strategy on diet
and physical activity, key success stories from developed and
developing countries
9. Strategies
for prevention, different levels of prevention (primordial, primary,
secondary and tertiary) in NCDs, Population approach versus high risk
approach
10. Stepwise
framework for prevention, cost effective interventions at primary,
secondary and tertiary health care levels
11. Estimation
of the burden of diseases due to NCDs, impact of presenting NCD data in
terms of DALYs and deaths, interpret estimates of deaths and DALYs at
country level for advocacy for NCDs, calculate the number of premature
deaths that could be prevented.
12. Science
into action, knowledge for policy advocacy at the national and state
level, importance of integrated approach, list a range of useful tools
for implementation
13. Partnerships
in NCD prevention and control, identify key partners and stakeholders,
different roles of partners, potential for partnerships with NGOs and
civil society
Infectious
Disease Epidemiology (2 credits)
Objectives
1. Familiarize
with common public health pathogens and understand the
immuno-physiology of infection in human body.
2. Understand
the ecology of emergence, progression and remission of infectious
diseases in the community.
3. Comprehend
various infectious disease control modalities including investigation
of an outbreak.
4. Understand
the epidemiology of infectious entities of public health importance
Contents
Introduction
of common terms used in infectious disease
epidemiology; epidemiolocal triad; sources and reservoir of infections;
routes
of transmission and ecology of infectious agents in the community;
immune
response of human body to infectious agents; patho-physiology and
manifestation
of infections in human body; common laboratory diagnostic modalities
used in
infectious disease epidemiology; epidemiology of infectious diseases of
public
health importance; steps in the investigation of an outbreak; disease
surveillance and bio-terrorism, public health vaccines and issues with
vaccine
efficiency. Modules shall include case studies and exposure
visits.
Intermediate
Epidemiology (2
credits)
Objectives
1. Introduce
students already familiar with basic concepts in epidemiology to data
analysis, inference and reporting;
2. Introduce
students to three basic approaches in data analysis: description,
exploration, and hypothesis testing;
3. Expose
students to basic tools of epidemiologic analysis such as crude and
stratified analysis, and model building;
4. Develop
the students’ judgment so as to enable them to differentiate concepts
such as confounding, mediation and effect modification
Contents
Epidemiological
data, issues of
quality; The data collection process- reliability, validity, sampling
and other
issues, Deductive and inductive reasoning, Approaches to
epidemiological data
analysis- description, exploration, and hypothesis testing, Crude and
stratified rates including Mantel Haentzel estimates, Model building in
epidemiology- linear and logistic regression, Confounding, Mediation,
Effect
Modification.
Health Policy Analysis – II (1
credit)
Objectives
The
objectives of the course are to
•
Provide an in-depth understanding of health
systems, their
characteristics and functions
•
Introduce the concept of health sector reforms, and
variations in
their scope (national, sub national, regional) and nature (sectoral,
system
wide) across regions and countries
•
Understand conceptual tools to examine the consequences
of reforms for
the health sector in different contexts
•
Gain knowledge of the global trends in health sector
reforms in
financing, public-private interactions and decentralisation and be
acquainted
with the Indian scenario.
•
Learn to critically analyse the implications of specific
types of
reforms (financing, public-private interactions and decentralisation)
on health
services
Contents
Health
systems and scope of Health Sector Reforms, Health Sector Reform,
Health
Financing Reforms – Overview, Health Insurance: Current schemes and
alternative
proposals, Community based health insurance, Changes in
priority-setting
mechanisms, Decentralization, Decentralization in the health sector,
Public
Private interactions in Health
Intermediate
Biostatistics (4
credits)
Objectives:
To
introduce and familiarize the commonly used statistical methods to
assess
associations and derive inferences. By the end of the course the
students
should have enough skills to computerize statistical data, do relevant
data
analysis and report the findings.
At least one statistical analysis software
(like SPSS) will be used in this course.
There
will be about 5 class hours per week and 60 class hours for the total
course
that consists of lecture as well as lab/workshop sessions.
Contents
A.
Statistical Methods (3 credits):
Review
of Hypothesis tests and
confidence intervals; For Means and Proportions-Chi-square test for
contingency
tables-Fishers exact test-Chi-square test for trend.
F
test for variances-One-way ANOVA.
Correlation,
Simple Linear
Regression and Logistic regression
Introduction
to multivariate analysis- Multiple linear regression-Multiple
logistic regression
Introduction
to Non-parametric tests-One-sample tests-Two sample tests.
Introduction
to Survival data
analysis-Censored data-Kaplan Meir Curves.
Ethical
issues in data management and statistical analysis.
B.
Data Analysis (1 credit):
Data
entry and importing
data-labeling variables, values and missing values-Creating new
variables-compute and recode-conditional recoding-merging data
files-analysis
for descriptive statistics-cross tabulating data-assessing correlations
and
associations-tests for significance-multivariate analysis by multiple
linear
regression and multiple logistic regression-Regression with dummy
variables-Analysis with subsets of the data-formatting, exporting and
saving
outputs.
Public
Health Technologies (2 credits)
Objectives
1. Understand
basics of public health technologies like public health informatics,
health information management systems (HIMS), use of Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) in health, Telemedicine, community
rehabilitation services etc
2. Impress
upon how appropriate use of technology brings forth faster and
efficient solutions to many age-old issues in public health.
3. Understand
the socio-cultural implications of technology use in public health and
basics of technology assessment at the community level.
Contents
Historical
background on use of technology in community
health; socio-cultural implications of technology; basis of public
health
informatics and how it can improve routine health surveillance; basics
of GIS
and its use as an descriptive epidemiology tool; implications and
potential
uses of telemedicine in public health; mobile technology and public
health; technology
aiding in laboratory diagnoses; use of technology for bringing forth
cost
effective appliances for community rehabilitation; basics of assessing
and
marketing technology innovations in public health; explore feasibility
of
technology inputs in common public health modalities like community
level
weighing machines, blood pressure monitoring devices, vaccines and
other
preventive/screening technologies. Modules shall include
hands on
training aided by relevant exposure visits.
Published on 20/11/2008
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