Communicable Disease Control

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Explain the balance between population and individual perspectives when practicing communicable disease control.
• Examine ethical frameworks to inform practice of communicable disease control, particularly with respect to vulnerable populations.
• Evaluate policies and programmes used in the prevention and control of selected communicable disease of public health importance.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• The major methods for transmission of communicable disease.
• The principles of surveillance, the characteristics of different surveillance systems, their strengths and weaknesses and application to disease control.
• Application of communicable disease epidemiology to strategies for prevention and control leading to improvements in public health.
• Epidemiological methods to investigate and manage outbreaks.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Critically discuss and evaluate information.
• Effectively communicate epidemiological concepts including risk in a variety of ways to different audiences.
• Manage your own learning and work effectively to deadlines.

• Basic concepts in infectious disease epidemiology
• Natural history, clinical presentation, methods of diagnosis and control of infections of national and international Public Health importance
• Use of surveillance systems nationally and internationally to monitor disease activity
• The design, evaluation, and management of immunisation programmes
• The steps in outbreak investigation including the use of relevant epidemiological methods and organisation of infection control
• Basic concepts of infectious disease genomics for communicable disease control
• International aspects of communicable disease control including International Health Regulations
• Ethical aspects of communicable disease control

Teaching and learning methods

A variety of methods will be used including lectures, problem-based learning sessions, group work, practical exercises, guided reading, group study and individual study. Some of the lectures and participatory sessions will be facilitated by clinicians and scientists from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre and University Hospital Southampton. Delivery will be face-to-face. In the event this is not possible delivery will be through MS Teams and BlackBoard collaborate.

Resources & Reading list

General Resources

Learning Resources. Up to date resources covering domestic and international aspects, where appropriate, will be provided for individual sessions on Blackboard. Students are not expected to read all texts

Internet Resources

Public Health England.

Textbooks

Hawker J, Begg N, Blair I, Reintjes R, Weinberg J, Ekdahl K. (2012). Communicable disease control and health protection handbook. John Wiley & Sons.

Noah N. (2006). Controlling communicable disease. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Assessment strategy

A formative multiple choice question (MCQ) assessment will be used mid-semester. There will be two components to the summative assessment i) short answer questions on the underlying principles of communicable disease control and ii) a written assignment that will focus on the burden, surveillance and prevention strategies for a specific communicable disease.

The pass mark for both assessments and the module is 50% and both must be passed to pass the module. If you have failed the module, the Board of Examiners may offer you the opportunity to submit work at the next referral (re-sit) opportunity. Marks for components that were passed will be carried forward. You must achieve the pass mark in all referred components. On passing your referrals, your final module mark will be capped at 50%.

The requirement to pass both summative assessment without compensation applies only to students enrolled on the Faculty of Medicine Public Health suite of programmes.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External