Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Health Trends and Surveillance

Course Description

This course blends theory and practical knowledge that are crucial to planning, organizing, interpreting and communicating surveillance information in the context of current public health practice. Broad in scope, this course will discuss the design and evaluation of surveillance systems legal and ethical issues, as well as computerization and other technical challenges related to system implementation. This course will go beyond the surveillance of particular conditions to the basic elements common to the application of surveillance to any type of public health problem.

This course uses lectures, a learning lab, readings, case studies and assignments to give students a broad overview of this field, while permitting individual choice in pursuing selected topics in more depth. As a graduate course, it emphasizes self-learning. Based on 2 individual assignments and a group presentation, each of the former worth 25%; the final group project is worth 50% (10% proposal and 40% final presentation).

Course Objectives

• To understand the basic principles and concepts related to the design, management and evaluation of public health surveillance systems;
• To be familiar with, able to access, and know the strengths and limitations of public health data sources at the local, provincial, national and international levels;
• To understand how to design, implement and evaluate a public health surveillance system;
• To develop new knowledge and skills in relation to the analysis of surveillance data and the design and dissemination of clear, descriptive reports;
• To understand the multidisciplinary nature of PH surveillance, requiring knowledge and skills from epidemiology, statistics, informatics, program management and evaluation;
• To anticipate and adapt to a changing landscape: health care, technology, legislation and policy formulation, and growing expectations/needs for useful information;
• To learn from some of the local experts and  identify other resources useful to addressing common challenges in PH surveillance.

Methods of Assessment