Course Overview

The measurement and quantification of population health could assist health policy making and priority setting. In the past few years there have been major advancements in burden of disease research, mainly led and stimulated by the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD). This course will give an overview on the concepts and methods used to quantify the burden of disease at the national and global level. The GBD will be a main focus of this course, but other alternative approaches will also be reviewed. The course consists of lectures, computer labs, a hands-on group-based project, and a field visit to the Department of Statistics of Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Learning Achievement

At the end of the course the students are expected to: 1. Understand the key concepts and elements in burden of disease studies 2. Comment on the strengths and limitations of burden of disease studies 3. Understand the estimating procedures of the GBD study 4. Be familiar with and be able to use the major databases of GBD while acknowledging their limitations

Competence

Course prerequisites

The course will be offered in English. Basic understanding of key concepts of epidemiology will be helpful but is not absolutely required.

Grading Philosophy

Course schedule

Course type

Online Course Requirement

Instructor

Lin Hsien-Ho

Other information

(College of Public Health) Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine

Site for Inquiry