Online Course on Public and Environmental Health in Emergencies
For whom?
Professionals from the humanitarian WASH aiming to improve their competencies for career development; professionals from the water and sanitation sector (private, public or non-governmental sectors) aiming to expand their expertise to the humanitarian sector; students from IHE aiming to diversify their learning pathway with humanitarian WASH knowledge.
Prerequisites
A bachelor's degree or equivalent. Good command of English language. Completed the “Building a Better Response” online course. Preferably experience in the WASH sector (technical and/or social sciences oriented).Dates, Fee, ECTS
Start: 06 September 2021
End: 14 January 2022
Duration: 18 weeks
ECTS credit points: 5
Deadline IHE application: 05 September 2021 - 23.59 (CET)
Course fee: € 1065
Start: 05 September 2022
End: 13 January 2023
Deadline IHE application: 04 September 2022 - 23.59 (CET)
Course fee: € 1065
VAT is not included in the course fee
Learning objectives
- Explain the link between public health and the environment in the WASH sector
- Select context-appropriate WASH interventions in emergencies, including health care facilities
- Analyse public health data/sources during different phases of a humanitarian crisis to assess the progression/regression of public health outcomes
- Design an adequate WASH response (incl. hygiene promotion and behaviour change programmes) during the different phases of a humanitarian crisis focusing on public health outcomes
Topic 1: Introduction to WASH and public health in emergencies
- Introduction about the type of emergencies and disasters (tbc what is covered in the governance module)
- Introduction to communicable diseases and link to health
- Effects of disasters on environmental & public health facilities and services
- Introduction to the SPHERE standards on water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion
Topic 2: Design a WASH response to reduce risks of public health emergencies or to respond to public health crises
- The phases of humanitarian emergencies (in acute emergency phase vs protracted/long term crisis) from the public health perspective.
- Prevention and public health emergency preparedness.
- Introduction to the phases of project cycle management, highlighting the key phases from the public health perspective.
- Effective programme/project design and implementation.
- Monitoring and evaluation.
Topic 3: Epidemiology in emergencies
- Foundation of field epidemiology
- Conducting a field (outbreak) investigation (rapid assessments; cross sectional surveys) [incl. data collection methodology (objectives and data needs; protocols; surveys; sample size)]
- Data analysis (basic statistics; interpretation of outbreak data)
Topic 4: WASH approaches in emergency contexts
- Description of WASH approaches in low- and medium-income countries
- Health impacts of WASH interventions in disease outbreaks
Topic 5: WASH in health care facilities
- Health organization for emergencies and disasters
- Infection Prevention & Control