Epidemiology tools and related community health

1. EPIDEMIOLOGY
AND
COMMUNITY HEALTH
BY
T. Pushpa Latha
Dept. of Hospital Administration
BON SECOURS COLLEGE FOR WOMEN , Thanjavur

2. INTRODUCTION
Epidemiology and community health are
two insperable words in public health
system .this is because they deal with
prevention of disease ,promotion of health
and efficiency through organized
community efforts .epidemiology deals
with the frequencies and types of illnesses
and injuries that affect population while
community health deals with the services
that aim at protecting the health of the
community.

3.  The knowledge of pattern, distribution and frequencies of
diseases and how it effects the community is the major
concern of every health organization.in fact,the success of
epidemiology and community health activities rely greatly on
effective transfer of information from health professional to
general public. Thus health information management is the
most veritable tool for the achievment of the desired goals
of health for all

4. OBJECTIVES
 At the end of this presentation participants will be
able to:-
 Explain the terms epidemiology and community
health.
 State the uses of epidemiology
 Describe epidemiology tools of measurements.
 Describe community health.

5. EPIDEMIOLOGY
 Defenition
 The word epidemiology is derived from
greek terms- “epi”-upon ,among ,”demos”
–people, district,”logos” –
study,word,discourse.
 Epidemiology literally is the study of
something that affects population.
 Jekel,elmore and katz(1996)defined
epidemiology as the study of factors that
determine the occurrence and distribution
of disease in a population

6. Onewasigwe(2004)views epidemiology as the study
of the causes,distribution,detrminants and deterrent
of disease,injuries and other health related condition
in human population.
Epidemiology deals with the frequencies and types
of illinesses and injuries in group of people and with
factors that influence their distribution.
In summary ,epidemiology is the study of factors
that affect health of population

7. Epidemiology therefore serves as a
A)cornerstone of methodology of public health
research
B)evidenced based medicine
C)means of identifying risk factors for diseases and
determining optimal treatment approaches to clinical
practice.

8. USES OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
 It is used in:-
1)studying the history of diseases in population in
terms of profile,time & trends .
2)determining the most common causes of death
,diseases and disability.
3)community diagnosis in terms of morbidity and
mortality rates and ratio.
4)determining the effective control method of
disease when known .

9. 5)Provision of data for proper planning and evaluation
of health services
6)Identifying deficiencies in ongoing programs
7)Identifying the priority areas for medical research

10. BASIC DEFINITIONS IN EPIDEMIOLOGY
Epidemics – the occurrence of the diseases or
groups of illnesses of similar nature clearly in excess
of the expected rate for the place and time
Pandemic-an epidemic usually affecting a large
proportion of the population occurring over a wide
geographic area .

11. Endemic – this refers to the constant presence of a
disease or infectious agent within a given geographic
area or population group .
Sporadic – it the scattered about disease with cases
occurring irregular,
Haphazardly from time to time and generally
infrequently.
Exotic – disease imported into a country , malaria in
united kingdom.

12. TYPES OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
There are various ways of grouping epidemiology,
a)Based on what it studied:-
Classical epidemiology - it studies the community origins of
health problems particularly those related to
nutrition,environment,human behaviour ,and psychologic,
social,and spiritual state of population. its aim is to discover
risk factors.
Clinical epidemiology – it studies patients in health care
settings in order to improve diagnosis and treatement of
various diseases and the prognosis of patients already
affected.(jekel,1996)

13. B) based on the steps investigation and control . According to
onwasigwe(2004) there are :-
1) descriptive epidemiology :- it studies the amount and
distribution of disease within population by person , place
and time. It is carried out to determine the frequency of
disease ,the kind of people suffering form it and where it
occurs . It makes use of routinely collected data such as
hospital data .its study answers these questions
 i) who are affected- ie the person(age,sex,race,marital
status,etc)

14. Ii) where do the cases occur:- ie the place ( rural,
urban , altitude ,humidity, rainfall)
Iii) when do these cases occur :- ie time (monthly or
annually secular trends – long term variation or cyclic
changes –recurrent alterations in the frequency from
annual or periodic)

15. 2) Analytical epidemiology:- this study is carried out to
draw logical conclusion . The study is used to
determine why the rate is high or low in a particular
group. Analytical studies or hypothesis – testing
studies used to verify the hypotheses .
It is different from descriptive studies because it is
studies individuals within a population at the entire
population .

16. Analytical studies involve two types of observation
studies-
A)case control study
B)cohort study
case control study – known as retrospective
studies which is used to estimate cause-effect
relationship between s suspected risk factor and a
disease. In this study people diagnosed of having a
disease(cases) are compared with those that do not
have the disease(control)

17. Cohort – is a group of persons at risk who share
common characteristics or experience within a define
period of time .
 cohort study –this is a prospective study , incidence
study and forward looking study which aims at
obtaining additional evidence to support or reject
the existence of an association between suspected
risk factor or cause and disease

18. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL TOOLS FOR
MEASUREMENT
Sensitivity and specificity – for screening.
Rates – to quantify disease
-relative risk and odd ratio –to evaluate association between
factors and disease

19. EPIDEMIOLOGY OF DISEASE
This is the prerequisites for infection occurrence
Agent
Reservoir (man ,animals)
Route of exit form the reservoir
Channel of transmission- (air ,water, formites)
Pathogen’s capacity for survival
Routes of entry (respiratory route , mouth)
Host susceptibility – (mechanical protection of skin
and chemical , inflammatory response, immunity)

20. HOW EPIDEMIOLOGY IS RELATED TO
COMMUNITY HEALTH
Provide basic knowledge of disease trends and
Distribution, causes and contributing factors.
 for planning health programmes eg procurement
drugs
Advocacy
Research
Monitoring and evaluation .

21. COMMUNITY HEALTH.
This is made up of two words –community and
health.
Community:- is a group of individuals who are
bound in time and space, dependent on each other
and having common goals .
Health –according to WHO in 1986 health is defined
as the extent to which an individual or group is
able,on the one hand to realize aspirations and
satisfy needs and on the other hand to change or
cope with the environment .

22. Community health is simply referred to as the
health status of group of people and the actions
conditions to promote , protect and preserve their
health.
However , park (2004),defined community health as
the health status of the members of community,
the problems affecting their health as well as the
totality of health care provided to the community.

23. In broader sense community health implies
integration of curative, preventive and promotive
health services rendered to individual living in the
same location
The emphasis of community health is centred on two
things namely :, community diagnosis and
community treatment.
This therefore implies that the entire community is
regarded as patient requiring diagnosis and
treatment .

24. COMMUNITY HEALTH ACTIVITIES
Community health activites are activites that are
aimed at protecting and improving the health of a
population or community .
These are as follows:-
Maintenance of accurate birth and death records.
Protection of food and water supply.
Maintenance of environmental sanitation- including
vector control and personal health care.

25. Immunization
Health education e.g. on healthy styles of
living.
Community diagnosis by surveying and
monitoring community health needs and
assessing the impact of intervention .

26. ….............thank you…………….