Populations Health

Code:

MI118

Acronym:

SPOP

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Medicine

Instance: 2014/2015 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Clinical Epidemiology, Predictive Medicine and Public Health Department
Course/CS Responsible:	Integrated Master in Medicine

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIMED	286	Mestrado Integrado em Medicina- Plano oficial 2013 (Reforma Curricular)	1	-	3	27,5	81

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

This curricular unit has as main objective the acquisition of knowledge on the principles and concepts used in population’s health and its application for the understanding of the health and disease processes.

The syllabus of this Unit has a comprehensive nature in agreement with the objective of having a global understanding on the basic principles and major problems related with populations’ health, and to promote a vision of medical activity as part of a broader health team that it is present before and after the curative interventions.

Learning outcomes and competences

Students should describe and understand the main patterns of disease occurrence among populations and their determinants; describe and understand the socio-demographic, economic, anthropological, behavioral, physical and biological conditions which influence or interact with the populations’ health status; know the underling processes involved in the planning and evaluation of community interventions; and gain critical skills to a better understanding of major public health challenges

Working method

Presencial

Program

Introduction: To define health, population and population’s health; Historical perspective of Public Health; Cultural concepts of health and disease.

Demographics and Geography of health; Demographic, epidemiological and nutritional transitions; Globalization and global health.

Data sources in population’s health; Description and comparison of health indicators by time and between populations.

Patterns of disease occurrence in a population; Global burden of diseases; Major causes of morbidity and mortality.

Environmental determinants of health in populations.

Knowledge and personal attitudes in health and health care as determinants of population’s health.

Social, cultural, and economic determinants of health in populations. Anthropology and Sociology of health in a context of interculturality.

Prevention and control of risks at the population level: smoking, alcohol and other drugs, food safety, violence (inter-individual and at the population level).

International health: main current topics and challenges. Communicable diseases under control and emergent diseases. Populations and mobility

Health and access to health care in vulnerable populations. The interpersonal and populational violence; Inequalities and Inequities in health.

The maternal and child health in Portugal

Plans (National Health Plan) and health programs (Vaccination program). Population approach vs. high-risk approach. To identify priorities and define evidence-based strategies in populations’ health.

 

Case-studies discussion: “John Snow, cholera and the Broad Street Pump”, “Ignaz Semmelweis and the puerperal fever"; “Population aging and mortality trends“, “Obesity and diabetes: the twins epidemics”, “Tuberculosis: strategies of control and eradication”, "HIV/SIDA: determinants and control of epidemics", “The public laws of tobacco and alchool”;"Hight blood pressure; how to transform  an health problem into a success".

Mandatory literature

Richard Riegelman, Brenda Kirkwood (editors); Public health 101: Healthy people-Healthy populations., 2nd ed. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2014

Comments from the literature

Bibliography will also include scientific papers with relevance to the topics under study.

Teaching methods and learning activities

As this curricular unit has 3 ECTs, it is estimated a total of 81 hours of work by students; out of these 28h are of contact (face-to-face lectures), with the following distribution:

A weekly theoretical session of 50 min (total: 12 sessions -10h)

A weekly theoretical-practical session of 150 min (total: 6 sessions – 15h)

Two seminars of 90 min

 

 

The stimulation of group discussions based on "case studies" is proposed as the most effective option for acquiring skills.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	75,00
Participação presencial	10,00
Trabalho laboratorial	15,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	52,00
Frequência das aulas	29,00
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

At least 75% of presencial participation on theoretical-practical sessions

Calculation formula of final grade

Assessment will be done by written examination comprising multiple-choice questions, corresponding to 75% of the final classification. The remaining 25% (5 values) will be obtained through the assessment performed during the theoretical-practical sessions. (2 values for participation on theoretical sessions and 3 values for group oral presentation, related with a case-study).