Topic outline

  • Basics of Public Health

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    Background

    This course - orginally an Open Online Course (OOC) - has been prepared by, and contains material from, Peoples-uni, an educational initiative providing online Public Health capacity building for health professionals. The course provides basic introduction to key aspects of the discipline of public health. You may want to explore other courses on this site if you wish to acquire more in-depth knowledge of any particular aspect.

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    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

    We hope that after going through this resource, you will:

    • Understand the broad concepts and issues in public health

    • Particularly understand the health systems of countries of interest to you.

    How to navigate the course

    Each topic comprises some introductory remarks. To access resources we think you will find interesting - click on the collections of resources in each section. There is a forum in each topic for reflection and each topic also has a quiz  to check your understanding of some of the concepts in that topic. Again click on the hyperlinks to take you to these items in each topic.

    We encourage you to reflect on what you have learned or comment on the course. When you click on the hyperlink in each forum labelled reflection, you will be able to add a new topic or respond to a previous one. You may want to share your learning from this and other readings, comment on the topics from your own experience, comment on others' posts, or provide feedback on how we can improve the content and presentation.


    In the final topic you will see that you can gain a Certificate of Completion - the requirements for this are to view the resources and post a reflection in each topic and complete the quiz. This is a self-directed course, to be taken at your own pace.

  • Definitions and roles of Public Health

    After completing this topic, you should be able to identify and understand the definition and roles of Public Health which are relevant to your own setting 

  • Epidemiology

    After completing this topic, you should be aware that Epidemiology is the study of disease in groups, hence is the key scientific underpinning of Public Health.

  • Health systems

    After completing this topic, you should understand the way that various countries establish systems to protect and promote the health of the public

  • An evidence base for Public Health

    After completing this topic, you should understand the importance of creating and applying an evidence base to finding solutions to the health problems facing populations

  • Health inequalities

    After completing this topic, you should understand the role of social factors in the development of ill health, how these lead to health inequality, and the major approaches to reducing inequality

  • Health Promotion

    After completing this topic, you should understand the role of Health Promotion in Public Health and the theoretical basis behind the discipline

  • Workforce needs in Public Health

    After completing this topic, you should be able to understand the issues of workforce needs in Public Health in your setting and the potential for e-learning to help build capacity

  • Finally

    In this section, you can take a quiz that covers some of the issues raised in the resources above.

    You can earn a certificate, if you have taken the quiz and viewed the resources in each of the sections above.

    • quiz icon
      Quiz: Public Health - the basics
      View Receive a grade Receive a passing grade
      Opened: Tuesday, 23 July 2019, 3:38 AM

      Take this quiz - a score of 7/10 will qualify towards a certificate