Public health approaches to infectious disease

This free course, Public health approaches to infectious disease, reviews the current global burden of infectious disease, the public health strategies that are reducing the impact of some major infections and the challenges facing national and international organisations in preventing illness and death caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites.

• Introduction
• Learning outcomes
• 1 The global burden of infectious disease
• 1 The global burden of infectious disease
• 1.1 Acute respiratory infections
• 1.2 Diarrhoeal diseases
• 1.3 Tuberculosis
• 1.4 HIV/AIDS
• 1.5 Malaria
• 1.6 Other infectious disease headlines
• 2 The public health approach
• 2 The public health approach
• 2.1 Threats to public health from urbanisation and industrialisation
• 2.2 Public health surveillance and response in a globalised world
• 2.2.1 International Health Regulations: IHR (2005)
• 2.2.2 The WHO Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network
• 2.2.3 National surveillance agencies
• 2.3 Public health interventions
• 3 Levels of infectious disease prevention
• 3 Levels of infectious disease prevention
• 3.1 Primary prevention strategies
• 3.2 Secondary prevention strategies
• 3.3 Tertiary prevention strategies
• 3.4 Combining prevention levels to promote public health
• 4 Public health successes in controlling infectious disease
• 4 Public health successes in controlling infectious disease
• 4.1 Vaccination revisited
• 4.1.1 The eradication of smallpox
• 4.1.2 The campaign to eradicate polio
• 4.2 The importance of hygiene
• 4.2.1 Hand washing with soap
• 4.2.2 Institutional hygiene and healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs)
• 4.3 Community action against infectious diseases
• 4.3.1 Oral rehydration salts
• 5 The guinea worm eradication campaign
• 5 The guinea worm eradication campaign
• 5.1 The human cost of guinea worm disease
• 5.2 Falling trends in guinea worm disease
• 5.3 The guinea worm transmission cycle
• 5.4 Eradication through community action
• 5.4.1 Protection of water sources
• 5.4.2 Community participation in the eradication programme
• 5.4.3 Surveillance and case mapping
• 5.4.4 Other interventions to support guinea worm eradication
• 5.4.5 A final thought about dracunculiasis eradication
• 6 The Millennium Development Goals, infectious disease and public health
• 6 The Millennium Development Goals, infectious disease and public health
• 6.1 The persistent effects of poverty on health
• 6.2 Other challenges to achieving the MDGs for public health
• Conclusion
• Questions for the course
• Glossary
• References
• Acknowledgements