Postgraduate

MSc and Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health

Unit outlines

Compulsory core units

PH101 - Basic Epidemiology [953P101]
This unit will provide an introduction to the basic concepts and methods of epidemiology to enable students to understand interpret and apply the basic methods of epidemiology and introduce more advanced epidemiological and statistical concepts. The unit will include the basic principles underlying different study designs; interpretation of epidemiological data; and public health preventive strategies. The emphasis will be on improving understanding of epidemiological methods and its use in public health.

PH102 - Basic Statistics for Public Health & Policy [953P102]
This unit will introduce the basic statistical methods used in public health research. In particular, students will learn methods of describing data, and how to interpret and use confidence intervals and significance tests, the most common methods of allowing for random variation in research results. The presentation and comparison of proportions and of means, and the technique of linear regression will be covered. As part of this introduction, students will learn to make practical use of a statistical computer package.

PH103 - Introduction to Health Economics [953P103]
This introduces the approach taken by economics and the scope and contribution of health economics. The concepts of supply and demand and their interaction in markets is discussed before exploring the relevance of markets to the provision of health care and the promotion of good health. Next the advantages and disadvantages of different ways of financing health services and paying providers are described. Finally the main methods of economic evaluation (cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis) are explained and their potential application in health care decision making is explored. It provides students with sufficient basic knowledge to understand the main contribution of health economics. For those interested in more in-depth knowledge, it provides the basis for taking the advanced health economic study units.

PH104 - Principles of Social Research [953P104]
This unit aims to introduce the basic principles of practice and theory in social research as applied to health. Students are introduced to key concepts in qualitative and quantitative methodology; the main data collection methods used in social research for health, and perspectives from some of the social science disciplines that have contributed to public health, including psychology, sociology, medical anthropology and history of medicine. The focus is on providing a broad introduction for those who will need to read, appraise or commission social research for public health.

Optional core units

PH105 - Issues in Public Health [953P105]
This unit is designed to answer the question what is public health? and to introduce the main concepts, principles, and practices of public health. The unit discusses modern public health its underlying themes, use of basic data on populations and mortality, methods used to estimate the burden of disease and assessing factors that contribute to its determinants, health inequalities, the extent to which health care contributes, or fails to contribute to, population health, and how to determine the effects on health of policies in other sectors such as the environment. The unit also looks at the health impact of some of the most important causes of avoidable disease globally.

PH106 - Environment, Health and Sustainable Development [953P106]
This unit introduces students to the range of environmental health concerns including pollution of air, water, food and land; climate change; the urban environment. The unit will cover interpretation and evaluation of risk assessments in environmental health, policy issues, standard setting and epidemiology. The unit considers environmental health in the local, national and global context. There is a case study with the focus on applying knowledge about environmental health to the student's own environment.

PH107 - Health Promotion Theory [953P107]
This unit focuses on the ideologies and theories which underlie health promotion. Topics will include the history, politics and ethics of health promotion, community development, healthy public policy, models of behaviour change and communicating risk. The unit also cover s planning health promotion interventions. The importance of evaluation and research in all aspects of health promotion will emphasized throughout the unit.

PH108 - Health Services [953P108]
This unit provides students with a range of ways of thinking about health services and health systems. Drawing on epidemiology, economics, history and sociology, it demonstrates the need for adopting a multi-disciplinary approach to understanding how health services function and why they have developed in the way they have. It starts by describing the inputs to health care including notions of diseases and medical knowledge. It goes on to consider the processes of care and how and why they vary. This leads into a consideration of the way services are organised in low, middle and high income countries. Finally it addresses ways of defining and monitoring and improving the quality of services.

PH109 - Health Policy, Process and Power [953P109]
This unit introduces students to the main theoretical approaches to understanding the dynamics of health policy processes at both national and international levels drawing principally on political science and policy analysis. It covers examples from high, low and middle income countries. The unit covers the political system within which policy is made and the role of the state, the process of policy making within government, how issues get onto the policy agenda, the role of interest groups in the policy process, policy implementation, the contribution of research and evaluation and global initiatives in health policy.

Advanced units

PH201 - Analytical Models for Decision-Making [953P201]
This unit will develop the students' understanding of the roles, strengths and weaknesses of different types of analytical model in supporting health care management decision-making.
The issues covered include: types and characteristics of models for management decision-making; complex decisions involving many criteria, uncertainty and risk; planning and budgeting for services to meet health care needs; hospital planning and costing models; and simulating flows through systems using deterministic, dynamic and stochastic models. It will require access to a computer and Excel spreadsheet software. The emphasis will be on practical decision making.

PH202 - Communicable Disease Control [953P202]
This unit covers the three main themes of communicable disease control – surveillance, outbreak investigation and vaccines. Surveillance covers general principles as applied to infectious disease locally and nationally, as well as international surveillance. Both epidemiological and management aspects of outbreak investigation are explained. Vaccines cover general principles, evaluation and strategy. There are sessions on specific diseases and vaccines. This unit will provide students with sufficient background to set up and run a communicable disease control programme in their country or region.

PH203 - Economic Analysis for Management and Policy [953P203]
This advanced economics unit seeks to strengthen students' familiarity with the conceptual bases for health economic analysis and develop their appreciation of how economic concepts and techniques can be applied to policy making and to the planning and management of health systems.

It will cover the following topics: welfare economics and the foundations of economic evaluation; economic evaluation; demand analysis in health care; production and cost function analyses; market analysis and competition; regulation, contracting and agency; and equity in the health sector.

PH204 - Economic Evaluation [953P204]
This unit will allow students to understand and apply current methods in the economic evaluation of health interventions. Topics will include: measurement, valuation and analysis of costs; techniques for measuring and valuing health outcomes; the presentation of cost and effect data; and critical appraisal of economic evaluation in health care decision-making.

PH205 - Environmental Epidemiology [953P205]
This unit aims to give students an understanding of the main themes in environmental epidemiology, with particular emphasis on methods of investigation, including those of time-series and spatial analysis. It covers pollution of the air, water and land, of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, and the investigation of disease clusters. Emphasis is given to critical interpretation of scientific evidence relating to potential environmental hazards to health.

PH206 - Environmental Health Policy [953P206]
The course description for this course is to follow shortly.

PH207 - Health Care Evaluation [953P207]
This unit will consider how the principles of scientific evaluation can be applied to the dimensions of effectiveness, efficiency, humanity and equity. The unit will cover the quantitative (including both experimental and observational designs) and qualitative methods used in evaluation of these four dimensions. It will also consider the challenge of measuring key outcomes such as disease, health status and quality of life and address the issues involved in measuring costs.

PH208 - Financial Management [953P208]
This unit will provide an introduction to financial management and will ensure that students are confident in their handling of financial information. Topics will include the funding of health care, costing and pricing of health services including market analysis, budgeting and budgetary control, contracting processes, financial accounting, working capital management and financial analysis, financial systems and controls, management information systems, performance management, capital investment appraisal and project management. The emphasis will be on the practical needs of the manager.

PH209 - Globalisation and Health [953P209]
This unit addresses the implications for human health worldwide of global change across economic, social, political and environmental dimensions. It combines an introduction to core concepts and debates with detailed examination of issues including the globalization of food, pharmaceutical and tobacco industries, developments in global health governance, and the impact of climate change, population mobility and multilateral trade agreements. The unit will enable students to develop a detailed understanding of the complex links between globalization and health.

PH210 - Managing Health Services [953P210]
This unit examines the concepts of management, managerial leadership and governance within health care systems. It provides a theoretical and practical understanding of the management processes and skills required to enable organisations or professionals to achieve their goals. The unit first develops the conceptual framework for the analysis of health systems management following which key managerial tasks are examined including managing income and finances; managing people; managing strategy and change; managing results; and finally, managerial leadership.

PH211 - Medical Anthropology in Public Health [953P211]
This unit introduces concepts of social and medical anthropology, drawing attention to its application to public health. It introduces the history, theoretical frames and methods of social and cultural anthropology, and of the sub-discipline of medical anthropology. It then examines social and cultural perceptions of sickness, medical pluralism and health seeking behaviour, the anthropology of infectious diseases, of biomedicine and of medicines, and the relations between cultural constructions of the person, the body and sickness. Finally, it explores the potential of anthropology to study (and improve) public health interventions and medical research itself.

PH212 - Organizational Management [953P212]
This unit will expand on the core themes of organizational management and organizational behaviour, in particular in the health workplace. The unit will use readings and case-studies on motivation, roles, interaction, leadership, power, influence, groups, culture, politics, design and change in organisations and the history of management theory.

PH213 - Principles and Practice of Health Promotion [953P213]
This unit builds on Health Promotion Theory core unit, and covers many different techniques available to people engaged in health promotion practice. These include individual approaches; group and community approaches and population and structural approaches. The unit will consider topics such motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, peer education, public education, health promoting environments, advocacy, partnerships and multi-sectoral working and policy and legislation. It will explore the strengths and weaknesses of these various techniques and the contexts in which they might be used.

PH301 - Integrating Report [953P301]
The course description for this course is to follow shortly.

Advanced units ID2: Biology of infection

ID201 Bacterial infections [952I201]
This unit will deal with the biology of bacteria as pathogens. It will focus on the major bacterial diseases and the other important types of bacterial infection such as wound infection, urinary tract infection and perinatal infection. The infections will be considered in groups related to the body systems infected.

ID202 Nutrition and infection [952I202]
This unit will address the relationship between nutritional status and susceptibility to infection, together with consideration of the impacts of infection on nutritional status. The student will be helped to critically examine the evidence for the many popular beliefs surrounding these subjects.

ID203 Parasitology [952I203]
This unit will deal with the biology of parasites and the ways that they can cause disease. The organisms responsible for the major parasitic diseases will provide the main focus for instruction as they have also been the main focus for research.

ID205 Hospital infection [951I205]
By the end of this unit the students should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the:

• essential theory and practice of nosocomial infections

• microbiological diagnosis

• and control of these infections

• role of health care professionals in the surveillance and management of hospital infections

The unit is intended for students who wish to understand the principles and concepts of clinical and microbiology related to the prevention of these infections. The course covers the microbiological aspects and related management associated issues. This will be set in context of the hospital and considers the roles of medical treatment, nursing care and all other aspects of hospital services in the control of hospital acquired infections.

ID209 Food microbiology [951I209]
Food is seldom sterile and may be a source of infection. This unit examines the role of standards in the protection of people from food poisoning. A knowledge of microbiology will enable students to deal more easily with this material. A general awareness of public health
implications of food borne infections in different contexts both national and international is helpful.
By the end of this unit students should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• the aetiology of food borne disease

• food production processes and the role of HACCP

• the role of microbiological standards, criteria and guidelines relevant to EU and UK legislation

• the role of various public health organizations in the surveillance and control of food borne disease.

This unit covers the microbiological aspects of infections transmitted by food. This will be set in the context of food production practices, legislation and the role of public health and related agencies.

ID210 Water and sanitation [952I210]
This unit is intended for students who wish to understand the principles of the social and public health aspects of sanitation and water supply. By the end of this study unit students should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the:

• importance of sanitation and water supply for diseases control

• various factors involved in the provision of sanitation and water

• role of water in the transmission and prevention of infections

• microbiological methods used during routine surveillance and monitoring

The course covers the microbiological social and public aspects of sanitation and water supply, the micro-organisms responsible for disease, their origins, mechanisms for elimination, and the epidemiology of waterborne and water washed disease.

Advanced unit ID3: Epidemiology, statistics and disease control

ID301 Epidemiology and control of infectious diseases in developing countries [952I301]
This unit will focus on the practical ways in which the epidemiology of infectious disease can be investigated in a developing country context and the ways in which this knowledge can be applied to control disease.

Advanced units ID5: Major infectious diseases

ID501 AIDS [952I501]
This unit will explore the biology and pathology of HIV infection in order to understand how AIDS develops. AIDS is the most important infectious disease to emerge during an era in which the techniques for the investigation, treatment and control of infection were in place and, therefore, it is important to explore how the epidemic has been handled in the context of both biomedicine and society.

ID502 Tuberculosis [952I502]
This unit will deal with the biology and pathology of tuberculosis, most particularly how modern techniques of molecular biology and immunology have been harnessed to combat an old plague. Tuberculosis remains the most common infectious cause of death world wide and so interventions suitable for both developed and developing countries will be considered and their limitations discussed.

ID503 Malaria [952I503]
This unit will enable the student to understand the biology and pathology of malaria. Al though the subject of numerous interventions and control programmes malaria remains the major parasitic cause of morbidity and mortality world-wide. The reasons for the failure of past attempts at control and the prospects for future success will be examined.