Public Health with Elements of Hygiene and Epidemiology
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health
through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private,
communities and individuals" (1920, C.E.A. Winslow). Public Health is considered in many aspects of a
health status. Main interventions of public health are focused on surveillance and assessment of the
population's health and wellbeing; assessing the evidence of effectiveness of interventions,
programmes and services to improve population health and wellbeing; policy and strategy
development and implementation for population health and wellbeing; leadership and collaborative
working for population health and wellbeing.
Epidemiology is considered to be the essential science of public health. Epidemiology is a quantitative
basic science built on a working knowledge of medical statistics and a method of casual reasoning
based on developing and testing hypotheses pertaining to occurrence and prevention of morbidity and
mortality. Epidemiology is also a well-known tool for public health action to promote and protect the
public's health based on science casual reasoning, and dose of practical common sense. Applied
epidemiology areas are the monitoring of reports of communicable diseases in the community in all
known aspects.
Teachers
Prof. n. o zdr. dr hab. n. med. Jacek J. Klawe
Dr n. med. Paweł Zalewski
Dr n. med. Małgorzata Andrzejewska
Dr n. med. Małgorzata Szady-Grad
Dr n. med. Bernadeta Szczepańska
Contact person
Dr n. med. Paweł Zalewski, e-mail: p.zalewski@cm.umk.pl
I. Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology
II. Head of the Department: Prof. dr hab. Jacek J. Klawe
III. Faculty of Medicine, year: third.
IV. Programme Tutor: Prof. dr hab. Jacek J. Klawe
V. Lectures and classes
VI. Assessment: final written test, 3 ECTS
VII. Subject hours: lectures 35h, classes 15h.
VIII. Aims of the Course:
Lectures:
1. The aim of the “Public Health with Elements of Hygiene and Epidemiology” course is to provide the
students with an overview of the principles and concepts of efforts organized by society to protect,
promote, and restore the people’s health; and basic principles of controlling the factors that influence
the occurrence of disease or other health-related conditions and events in defined populations and
societies.
Classes:
1. Measuring disease frequency.
2. Describing patterns of disease occurrence.
3. Investigating outbreaks of disease.
4. Identifying the causes of diseases.
5. Summarizing evidence on clinical questions.
6. Public Health strategies.
IX. Topics of lectures:
Lectures:
1. Introduction to public health, hygiene and epidemiology – basic principles and definitions. Health
state determinants.
2. Public health strategies.
3. Health care systems – organization and management. Health care politics in EU.
4. Socioeconomic determinants of health state in Poland and other countries.
5. Sanitary surveillance bodies – organization and main tasks.
6. Epidemiology of infectious disease. Communicable disease control and prevention.
7. Epidemiology of non-infectious diseases. Causes and prevention.
8. Re-emerging infectious disease – a serious public health problem.
9. Measuring of disturbance factors in working environment. Occupational and environmental diseases
epidemiology.
10. Epidemiology of hospital infections.
11. Epidemiology of nutritional poisoning, mycotoxins.
12. Health care promotion in the family household. Pro-family politics.
13. Health promotion and health care activities in the cardiovascular and cancer diseases.
14. ICD – international classification of diseases; procedures classification.
Classes:
1. Epidemiological research methods. Medical and epidemiological data bases.
2. Health care promotion programs planning at different levels.
3. Detailed epidemiology of chronic diseases. Specific epidemic process analyses.
4. Prevalence and severity of feeding and nutritional problems; rules of diet composition.
5. Detailed epidemiology of infectious diseases and hospital infections.
6. Vaccinations and tropical infectious diseases.
X. Self-study topics
Studying professional literature.
XI. Literature:
Obligatory textbooks:
1. Basic Epidemiology by R. Bonita, R. Beaglehole, T. Kjellstrom, 2nd edition, WHO Library.
2. Essential Epidemiology: An Introduction for Students and Health Professionals (Essential Medical
Texts for Students and Trainees) by Penny Webb and Chris Bain.
3. Essential Public Health: Theory and Practice by Stephen Gillam, Jan Yates and Padmanabhan
Badrinath.
Additional textbooks:
1. Public Health and Epidemiology at a Glance by Margaret Somerville, K. Kumaran and Rob Anderson.
2. Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice (Oxford Medical Handbooks) by David Pencheon, Charles
Guest, David Melzer and Muir Gray.
3. Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Preventive Medicine, Jekel J., Katz D., Elmore J., Wild D. Saunders
Elsevier, 2007.
XII. List of practical skills of completing:
1. Describe the main uses of epidemiology. Develop a research question from a health-related
problem. Describe the main areas of Public Health.
2. Suggest a health care solutions for public health improvement.
3. Iidentifying factors that suggest a disease has an infectious cause.
4. Understanding practical applications of epidemiological methods through the study of research
papers on specific diseases.
5. Understanding key epidemiological concepts in the study of three infectious diseases of global health
importance: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
6. Understanding the rationale for a life-course approach to the etiology of non-communicable
diseases.
7. Understanding direct and indirect relations between clinical medicine and Public Health.
RULES AND REGULATIONS
Information about the course:
The coursework of Public Health with Elements of Hygiene and Epidemiology includes 35 hours lectures
and 15 hours of exercises conducted during two semesters. It is ended with the final exam (test). The
final test will be timed in the schedule of session.
Obligatory textbooks:
1. Basic Epidemiology by R. Bonita, R. Beaglehole, T. Kjellstrom, 2nd edition, WHO Library.
2. Essential Epidemiology: An Introduction for Students and Health Professionals (Essential Medical
Texts for Students and Trainees) by Penny Webb and Chris Bain.
3. Essential Public Health: Theory and Practice by Stephen Gillam, Jan Yates and Padmanabhan
Badrinath.
Additional textbooks:
1. Public Health and Epidemiology at a Glance by Margaret Somerville, K. Kumaran and Rob Anderson.
2. Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice (Oxford Medical Handbooks) by David Pencheon, Charles
Guest, David Melzer and Muir Gray.
3. Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Preventive Medicine, Jekel J., Katz D., Elmore J., Wild D. Saunders
Elsevier, 2007.
Requirements:
1. The exercises and lectures are obligatory. In the case of the illness a sick leave has to be delivered.
Other absences due to important reason must be documented.
2. Two unjustified and undocumented absences make it impossible to pass the semester and take the
final test. More than one absences unable to take a short exam.
3. Each Student is obliged to come for the exercises and lectures on time.
4. Eating, drinking and using mobile phones during the exercises are prohibited.
5. After the completed classes students are obliged to take a short exam.
Final Exam
1. Students can take the final exam on condition that they pass the short exam.
2. The final exam consists of a closed-answer test and will be available via remote educational platform
– Moodle (website address: moodle.umk.pl).
3. Students who failed the final exam are obliged to retake the test.
4. The final scores of the finale exam are not changeable.
5. An excuse for absence should be submitted to the examiner the next day, or in justified
circumstances, within three days after the final exam.
6. The final exam will be assessed according to given marks:
(2,0) – 59.9% and less
(3,0) – 60,0-68,0%
(3,5) – 68,1-76,0%
(4,0) – 76,1-84,0%
(4,5) – 84,1-92,0%
(5,0) – 92,1-100%