Public health and scientific

writing

BM Hamooya
Rationale

 PH aims at protecting the health of the community through

 disease prevention,
 health promotion
 and other interventions.

 It basically helps students to understand broad issues affecting the

health and well-being of the public and builds on the concepts
learned in Public Health II
 Aim of the course

 This course is designed to provide the student with an understanding

of the epidemiology of:
 communicable and non-communicable diseases,
 population dynamics
 and demography,
 issues in family planning,
 health policy and planning.
 Additionally, the course aims to teach leadership and general
management skills
Course objectives

 By the end of the course, the student should be able to:

 Appraise population distribution, its growth and impact on the health

and economy of the country.
 Identify and formulate solutions to public health problems.
 Facilitate community participation in problem identification and in
decision making
 Provide leadership to the health teams and communities, and
demonstrate management skills.
Course Content
Demography and Family Planning

 Population structure, growth rate and its distribution

 Demographic cycle and trends
 Fertility trends
 Family planning, its philosophy, scope, use
 National demographic goals
 Modern and traditional contraceptive methods – uses
Epidemics

 Outbreak investigation
 Epidemiology of HIV and AIDS
 Cholera
 Dysentery
 Typhoid
 Plague
Communicable, Non communicable diseases and other threats to public
health

 Communicable diseases
 Non Communicable diseases
 Alcohol and substance abuse
 Gender, trauma and violence
 Child abuse
 Child labor
Scientific Research Writing
 Research proposal writing
 writing a research proposal under the direction of a
supervisor.
 The protocol may be based on primary or secondary data
 Protocol will be handed-in before the end of the second
semester for grading as part of the continuous assessment.
 Report writing
 Presentation of research findings
 Dissemination of research findings
 Critique of a scientific publication
Teaching Methods

 Lectures
 Student directed Seminars
 Group discussions /debates
 Guided reading
Methods of Assessment

 Continuous Assessment - 40%

 Project Proposal - 30%
 Assignments or tests - 10%

 Written examination - 60%

 Prescribed Reading

 Beaglehole, R, Bonita R, Kjellstrom T. Basic Epidemiology, Geneva, WHO.

 Gordis, L Epidemiology, Baltimore, Saunders Elsevier.
 Rothmans, J K Epidemiology: An introduction, Oxford University press.
 Park, K. Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, Prem Nagar, Jabalpur, India.
 Davison, Stanly (Sir) Davison’s Principles of Medicine.
 Singleton, Joan, Primary Care, Lippincott, Philadelphia-New York-Baltimore.
 Brian, Infectious Diseases in Primary Care, Mosby, Bailliere Tindal, Elsevier
 Peters and Pasvol. Tropical medicine and Parasitology
 Community Health and willingness - Mosby Manson’ Tropical Medicine .
 Oxford Test Books of Public Health Part 1, 2, 3 and 4. Oxford University Press.
 Wattes Wellett, Nutritional Epidemiology, Oxford University Press.
Link for downloading free books

 https://b-ok.org/