Foundations of Public Health Practice: Health Protection

The Health Protection course is the fourth instalment of the wider Foundations of Public Health Practice specialisation from Imperial College London's Global Master of Public Health (MPH). The scope and content of this course has been developed from the ground up by a combined team of academics and practitioners drawing on decades of real-world public health experience as well as deep academic knowledge. Through short video lectures, practitioner interviews and a wide range of interactive activities, learners will be immersed in the world of public health practice.

Designed for those new to the discipline, over three modules (intended for three weeks of learning), learners will become familiar with the scope, principles and nuances of health protection in the context of public health practice. Beginning with the basics of Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH) based interventions, the course will introduce learners to the science and principles of practical microbiology, before examining vaccines, incident management and the threat posed by a wide range of manmade and natural environmental threats. By the end of this course, learners will be familiar and conversant with core health protection principles and approaches, and confident in discussing health protection issues when they move into practice.

Module One: Water, sanitation and infectious diseases
-This fourth course, "Health Protection", part of the wider Foundations of Public Health Practice specialisation, is designed to introduce learners to the area of operational and strategic health protection. This first module, entitled "Water, sanitation and infectious diseases" introduces learners to WASH-based initiatives before, in the second lesson, bringing learners up to speed on basic microbiology and the science that underpins communicable disease control.

Module Two: Vaccines and management of communicable disease
-This fourth course, "Health Protection", part of the wider Foundations of Public Health Practice specialisation, is designed to introduce learners to the area of operational and strategic health protection. This second module, entitled "Vaccines and communicable disease control" will cover the science and practice of vaccines. In the first lesson learners are introduced to the evidence-base and impact that vaccines have had on morbidity globally. Some of the main global players are also introduced before discussion of the ethical implications of mandatory vaccination (building on learning from the first course of this specialisation "The Public Health Approach"). Bringing all of the learning on this course together, the second lesson introduces communicable disease control and the management of health protection incidents.

Module Three: Environmental hazards and strategic health protection threats
-This fourth course, "Health Protection", part of the wider Foundations of Public Health Practice specialisation, is designed to introduce learners to the area of operational and strategic health protection. This third module, entitled "Environmental hazards and strategic health protection threats" examines the non-communicable disease elements of health protection - with an introduction to CBRN and exploration of the public health approach in the context of major incidents and health emergencies. In the first lesson learners are introduced to the emerging public health topic of air quality: with specific exploration of the collision of circumstances leading to London's Ultra Low Emission Zone. The second lesson moves into CBRN with a case study of the Fukushima Daiichi radiological incident of 2011.