London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

This module integrates principles, approaches and methods from different disciplines (such as epidemiology, statistics, health economics, social sciences, health policy & planning) and applies them using case studies and examples from lower- and middle-income countries.

The overall module aim is to enable students to apply and build upon the skills they have learned during the preceding terms to translate evidence into policies and policy into practice in low and middle income countries.

Intended learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the module, a student should be able to:

1. Apply public health disciplines in an integrated manner to review evidence required for making policy recommendations.
2. Make evidence based public health policy recommendations.
3. Acquire the tools needed to support strategic reviews of public health programmes.

Session Content

The module is expected to cover the following topics:

• Overview of measures of burden of disease and public health intervention strategies.
• The process of developing evidence-based guidelines at WHO.
• Critical appraisal and interpretation of data from randomised controlled trials observational studies, systematic reviews, cost-effectiveness analysis and qualitative reviews.
• Health economics for public health practitioners.
• Applying the diverse mix of public health disciplines to different scenarios of current public health issues in low- and middle-income countries.
• Approaches to monitoring and evaluation of delivery of interventions.
• Programme grant application review process (Global Fund).
• Procurement & Supply Chain Management.
• Data needs and communication strategies for advocacy.
• Research into policy: the application of analytical (epidemiological, social science, & economic) skills to examine the evidence base and its sufficiency for appropriate policy development.
• Policy into practice: the ability to assess and discuss implementation feasibility of specific policies and strategies in defined contexts

Mode of delivery

This module is delivered predominantly face-to-face. Where specific teaching methods (lectures, seminars, discussion groups) are noted in this module specification these will be delivered by predominantly face-to-face sessions. There will be a combination of live and interactive activities (synchronous learning) as well as self-directed study (asynchronous learning).

Assessment

The assessment for this module has been designed to measure student learning against the module's intended learning outcomes (ILOs) as listed above. The grade for the summative assessment will go towards the overall award GPA. 

Assessment will involve submission of a policy discussion report on a potential intervention that is currently considered to reduce disease burden and/or improve health outcomes in a low- and middle-income country. The maximum word limit for the policy discussion paper is 2,500 words excluding references

Credits

• CATS: 15
• ECTS: 7.5

Module specification

For full information regarding this module please see the module specification.