Foundations of Public Health(Open access)
Welcome to this module, which is available to all who log on to the People's Open Access Education Initiative (Peoples-uni
http://peoples-uni.org). It is a demonstration module, not for credit, and aims to:
1. Provide an overview of what is Public Health and some of its main components - for all who may be interested, as well as for those taking courses though the Peoples-uni
2. Show prospective students how the Peoples-uni course modules are structured, so you will know what to expect when you enrol in a course module.
The challenges for Public Health are eloquently described in 'Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries': "Between 1950 and 1990, life expectancy in developing countries increased from forty to sixty-three years with a concomitant rise in the incidence of the non-communicable diseases of adults and the elderly. Yet there remains a huge unfinished agenda for dealing with under-nutrition and the communicable childhood diseases. Four critical challenges face developing countries today: high levels and rapid growth of non-communicable diseases; the unchecked HIV/AIDS pandemic; the possibility of a successor to the influenza pandemic of 1918; and the persistence of high but preventable levels of diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, diarrhoea, and pneumonia for which malnutrition is a critical risk factor."
Meeting these challenges to the health of the population is the task of Public Health, and helping to develop capacity in Public Health is the key goal of the Peoples-uni. This module, Foundations of Public Health is designed to set the scene for those who want to learn more about how to improve the health of their populations.
Navigating the course module.You will see 5 Topics (which we think cover at least some of the foundations of Public Health). In other modules which are offered for credit, each Topic is run over a two week period, and the student examines the resources and joins the discussion which is led by a facilitator (one of the more than 50 tutors from 12 countries who have volunteered to help in this way). In this module, because it is not run over a particular time period to a timetable,
we are not able to offer tutor support to the discussion forums, nor will be be marking the assignments -
they are provided as examples of the kind of assignment you might expect in a module offered for credit.
In each of the 5 Topics, you will find the
title of the Topic and the
headline competence which the Topic is trying to produce in the learner, as well as the
learning objectives (these are also called
assessment criteria, as it is on these criteria that the assessment for academic credit is made through an assignment). Then there is a set of
resources 
- this is in the form of a web page to which you link, and in that page are a number of resources that relate to the competence and learning objectives - you get to these by clicking on the link. All links are in blue - in the form of a hyperlink eg
Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries. Then comes a
discussion forum, designed to explore the resources in detail and share experiences with other students and an expert tutor facilitator
, and in some of the Topics a progress or final
assignment. There may also be a
quiz for you to assess your own progress.
For copyright issues, we are also not able to offer copies of the resources, they are provided as links to the online resources - in the modules offered for credit, we are able to provide most of the resources as pdf files for you to download and read at leisure.
We hope you enjoy the module - please send us any feedback through
http://www.peoples-uni.org/contact - if you would like
access to contribute to the discussions or to take the quizzes, or to offer some relevant resources which we can add to later versions, we would love to hear from you.
If you are stimulated to enrol in other course modules, please go to
http://peoples-uni.org where you can see more details and can send an application or expression of interest.
