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Epidemiology is critical
for organizing and planning health services and targeting specific
interventions. This module provides a refresher on the foundations of
epidemiology. It covers the measures of frequency that include count,
prevalence, and incidence in public health practice. It concludes by discussing
descriptive epidemiology, which answers the questions what, who, when, and
where about health events. Completing this module will improve your knowledge
on descriptive data analysis, which is used to assess population health,
identifying whether health issues are increasing or decreasing, where they are
occurring most, and who are the most affected. |
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This module explores measures of association that are used to compare groups of different people, groups across different places, or one group over time. Age-standardized data is often required when making such comparisons. The module therefore also provides an explanation of when standardization of public health data is important and how to age-standardize data. It concludes by providing details on more complex measures of potential impact, including population attributable fraction and excess mortality. Completing this module will improve your knowledge of the importance of comparing groups in epidemiology, as this helps to identify populations most affected by poor health. The population attributable fraction is then used to estimate the reduction in disease due to the removal of harmful exposures or the implementation of beneficial public health interventions.
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Completing this module will increase your understanding of what public health data are collected, how they are collected, and how they are used for planning and programming of health services, monitoring of services and health status, and evaluation of interventions. This module provides an overview of the types and sources of public health data. The strengths and limitations of the various sources of data are also covered, as these need to be considered when using data for planning and policymaking. Further explanation is provided on how public health data are used. Monitoring and evaluation of health programs are also covered, as these are important uses of health data.
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The goal of a visualization is to allow the data to tell a story. They can help to communicate a message to your reader that may be difficult to convey in a table. The module commences with the type of data stories that can be told, as this helps you define the message you want to communicate (e.g., change, comparison, composition, or correlation). The next step is to select the most appropriate visualization based on your communication purpose and the characteristics of your data. The module then covers the most important principles that should be considered when designing a visualization. The final section discusses the purpose of the maps and the types of maps that are used to share public health information. Completing this module will provide you with the knowledge of how to select and design the best visualization to tell your story.
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Measuring the burden of disease helps clarify the impact of a health problem in a particular population or setting. Summary measures, such as disability-adjusted life years, are used to estimate the burden of diseases on population health. This module will introduce the different measures, describe how they are calculated, and provide you with an understanding of their limitations. By completing this module, you will understand how to estimate the impact of a health problem by measuring the burden of disease when comparing groups.
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Understanding the social determinants of health and inequalities in a setting can help identify where health inequities exist, inform resource allocation, and tailor public health programs. This module begins with the social determinants of health and how they influence and affect health outcomes. Health inequalities and inequities are then described, and data from the World Health Organization Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT) are used to present and calculate measures of inequality. By completing this module, you will gain an understanding of health inequalities and inequities, and how to assess these for a given population.
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Large amounts of health data are collected by governments. Although
some analysis of the data is usually done, the data are not always used in
decision-making. This module provides an understanding of public health data
and how it is used to inform public health planning, resource allocation, and policymaking.
It provides government staff with a framework for improving the use of data for
decision-making. Completing this module will help you develop a structured
approach for making data-driven
decisions to improve population health.
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Data should not be analyzed without careful error checking and reflection on the quality. Incorrect assumptions or misinterpretations due to poor assessment of the data can result in a wrong decision or action, which could have detrimental health effects as well as potentially waste funds that could be used more fruitfully. The module provides you with an approach for assessing routine public health data and managing data quality issues.
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This electronic course on medical certification of cause of death will help physicians and other health care staff to understand the critical importance of medical certification. This will allow them to produce high quality mortality data for government agencies to effectively make evidenced-based policy decisions.
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La seguridad vial es uno de los elementos mas significativos en torno a la operación de la infraestructura, la movilidad y el comportamiento de los diferentes actores viales de las ciudades. La siniestralidad vial contribuye de manera sustancial a la
morbilidad y mortalidad de la población y el conocimiento de la magnitud y circunstancias de estos eventos es necesario para orientar la toma de decisiones relacionadas a la aplicación de normas que regulan la movilidad de un país, así como a través de
la concientización y de la educación de todos los actores que intervienen en las vías. Tomando la perspectiva de salud pública, este curso proporciona elementos sobre el análisis, interpretación y presentación de datos de seguridad vial, así como de los
indicadores de siniestralidad vial definidos para el país de Colombia, a partir de fuentes de información existentes, que permitan la generación de líneas base para la toma de decisiones en el diseño e implementación de intervenciones efectivas y basadas
en la evidencia. |
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As data become more prevalent and accessible, good reporting on civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS)—at the community, national, and global levels—requires journalists who can understand and use data. This e-learning course builds the data use
skills of journalists to develop stories related to CRVS. The course will provide a detailed overview of CRVS—what it is and why it is important, including for human rights and equity—and build skills related to data use in reporting. Topics covered
include: common data-related terms and concepts; primary sources of CRVS data; basic methods for analyzing, interpreting, and visualizing CRVS data; and effective tactics for interviewing public health experts and leaders about data-rich topics. This
course is designed for journalists who write about public health topics, and participants will be guided in developing a CRVS-related data story for publication.
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Well-written, accurate, and accessible reports are critical tools for communicating public health data and for advancing policies that are responsive to the issues data reveal. All public health agencies should produce data reports and tailor them to a variety of audiences. This short course provides guidance on writing data reports, suggestions on how and when to produce specific kinds of reports, and ideas to help organizations assess their report-writing needs. The course is designed for surveillance and epidemiology staff who wish to communicate data to external audiences, and also to communications staff who wish to incorporate data into ministry or health department communications products or websites.
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The CRVS Systems Improvement Framework provides countries with the tools to assess and improve their CRVS systems and processes that brings stakeholders together to solve problems.
The Framework's purpose is to guide the analysis, redesign, and monitoring of the business processes that are at the foundation of CRVS systems. For example, these include the review, revision, and measurement of end-to-end activities for registering births and deaths, and assigning causes of death for vital events occurring both in and outside of health facilities. The course provides detailed and interactive learning materials to build skills to apply resources and tools from the framework.
This self-guided e-learning course is designed to help CRVS system planners and administrators implement the Framework. There are three modules that complement the framework:
- Module 1: Introduction to the CRVS Systems Improvement Framework
- Module 2: Assessment, analysis, and redesign of CRVS business processes
- Module 3: Strategic planning, implementing an action plan, and monitoring and evaluating progress
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This course, titled Introduction to CRVS Systems Improvement Framework, provides a key learning opportunity for the strengthening of civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems in low- and middle-income countries and for enhancing CRVS systems processes. It offers a strong introduction to the Framework and provides the insight needed to support system improvement. This module is suited for senior government officials, policymakers, or development partners who support CRVS systems strengthening who may not need the level of detail offered in the Full Learning Program.
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The Communication for Development e-learning Course has been developed for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) practitioners interested in learning how to apply communication for development approaches to achieve timely, effective, and universal civil registration of vital events. The course comprises six self-learning modules and takes about 3-4 hours to complete.
Social norms and customs often pose severe obstacles to reaching civil registration services. Even when civil registration services are accessible for most of the population, power relations in the family and gender inequalities often play a role. Also, the understanding of the importance of civil registration might be low among community members, health workers, and other authorities, and the public pressure to register vital events is lacking. Leaders or other respected people in the communities must set a good example of using and advocating for registration services.
This course shows how it is possible to increase the acceptance, demand, and use of civil registration services, and how governments can achieve these improvements through the development of strategic action plans for social and behavior change interventions. The strategic interventions should address barriers on individual, social, and environmental levels, and ensure the communication is based on dialogue with communities and addressing social and collective change, not individual behavior.
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Accurate civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) data are critical to understanding national health status and developing appropriate strategies and relevant policies to improve population health. In the absence of CRVS data, countries lack a clear picture of birth and death rates and the causes of death. This data gap makes it difficult to allocate resources appropriately to health, education, and other key government sectors. As part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative, countries around the world are investing in expanding and improving the quality of the CRVS systems. However, unless data are regularly analyzed and used, neither government nor citizens will not reap the benefits of this investment. Vital statistics generated by well-functioning civil registration systems are crucial for policy development and decision-making and are central to monitoring several Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets.
Here in Module 1 of 10, you'll get an overview of CRVS and the social and health benefits from high-quality data from civil registration records. Participants will learn about the public health uses of data from CRVS systems, including developing public health policies, monitoring health systems, and evaluating public health programs. Upon completion of the module, participants will understand how to define civil registration and vital statistics, the types of vital records recognized by the UN, and both the challenges and benefits of CRVS systems.
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During Module 2, participants will understand how low-quality data can adversely affect the accuracy of vital statistics. The module reviews methods (both direct and indirect) on estimating the completeness of birth and death registration and how to assess the plausibility of mortality measures. Participants will also learn about the importance of high-quality cause-of-death data and how this data can be assessed, using tools such as ANACoD4 or ANACONDA.
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This module
introduces birth statistics that are important for monitoring, tracking
Sustainable Development Goals, reporting, and understanding the fertility
trends in a country. Upon completion of the module, participants will know how
to calculate birth statistics such as sex ratio, crude birth rate, and total
fertility rate, which are important to report on in a national vital statistics
report. |
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The module on death statistics provides an overview of mortality measures that are important for monitoring, tracking Sustainable Development Goals, reporting, and understanding the mortality trends in a country. These measures include: the crude death rate, age-specific mortality rates, under-5 mortality rate, and the infant mortality rate. Participants will learn about the importance of age standardization to account for the differing age distributions across populations. Finally, participants will be introduced to how to calculate key mortality measures using life tables. |
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Upon completion of this module, participants will understand how cause of death (COD) data are generated, including the sources of COD data, and how to conduct basic analyses of this data. Participants will also learn why COD data are important for various stakeholders (e.g., agencies, researchers, medical practitioners) and how COD data can be used. Finally, the module will provide an overview of verbal autopsy, which is used to ascertain cause of death and cause-specific mortality fractions when medical certification of cause of death (MCCD) is unavailable. |
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Module
6 will help participants understand how to use descriptive epidemiology to
assess and interpret vital statistics. This will include using epidemiological
topics such as rate difference and rate ratio to compare and make meaning of
vital statistics. Participants will gain an understanding of inequalities in
mortality when disaggregating vital statistics by demographic factors and learn
how to calculate and interpret excess mortality, an important concept to the
COVID-19 pandemic. |
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Upon
completion of this module, participants will be able to describe and compare
the main types of visualizations used to depict vital statistics and understand
the factors involved in determining which visualization best suits a
communication purpose. Participants will also understand important design
principles that contribute to effective data visualization.
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In
this module, participants will dive deeper into how CRVS data can be applied to
calculate epidemiological measures such as attributable mortality, years of
life lost (YLL), and measures to assess the burden of disease. |
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This session provides an overview of how to identify and communicate findings to a targeted audience and how to identify the best way to communicate the message. Participants will learn about different types of analytical reports, including national vital statistics reports, that can be produced to disseminate vital statistics and learn about other types of media, such as press release, to communicate findings. |
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Upon completion of this module, participants will understand how vital statistics can be used to inform policy decisions, program planning, and program evaluation. Participants will hear about examples of where CRVS indicators such as cause-specific mortality and infant mortality rate were used to identify a problem and evaluate a program. |
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This webisode provides an overview of how to use indirect methods to calculate the denominator and numerator to assess birth and death registration completeness. A demonstration of a completeness calculator using sample country data is provided.
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In this webisode, participants will receive an overview of verbal autopsy (VA) and learn how VA can be used for population-level cause of death reporting.
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In this webisode, participants will learn the calculation and use of excess mortality to understand the impact of an event on mortality, specifically the COVID-19 pandemic.
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This webisode reviews design principles important for developing effective visualizations using CRVS data. These visualizations can then be used in CRVS reporting, such as in a vital statistics report or online dashboard. Participants will watch a demonstration of how to use design principles to make a visualization more effective.
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This webisode provides an overview of the Vital Statistics Report resource kit, which includes a Guide, Template, and Excel Workbook to help develop a vital statistics report. |
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The value of a public health report is achieved when the information registers and is internalized by the appropriate audiences and catalyzes positive action. Making sure that public health reports are seen by the intended audiences is a critical step in the report production process. Dissemination activities need to be considered as a step in the report production process to ensure that enough resources, including time, personnel, budget and expertise, are allocated to these tasks. This short course was developed to provide strategic guidance on developing an overall dissemination strategy and best practices on distilling key messages and communicating findings from reports to the intended audiences. The course is designed for surveillance and epidemiology staff who wish to communicate data to external audiences, and also to communications staff who wish to incorporate data into ministry or health department communications products or websites.
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