Author: Dr Christa Maria Joel Module: Responding to Public Health Challenges Supervisor: Ms Helen Cockburn University of the West of Scotland

1. How do you use epidemiological data to support your role and can you include a brief example of
this?
In response to Vicky’s post, I agree that epidemiology is a discipline that has evolved
with changing societies (Frerot et al., 2018). It focuses on the health of human
populations by preventing diseases and injuries, concentrating on health promotion, and
checking the effectiveness of the health programs introduced to improve the
population’s health (Haveman-Nies et al., 2011).
According to Majumder and Jena (2018), epidemiological data helps government and
health care systems to plan health interventions to prevent and control communicable
and non-communicable diseases. Healthcare and policymakers use statistical data in
the form of charts and graphs to comprehend and assess the onset and spread of
infectious diseases (Majumder, Jena, 2017).
For instance, to demonstrate the prevalence, incidence, and mortality of malaria in
India over the years, national research was conducted in 2020. Samples were taken
from all 624 districts of India and categorized into low,
moderate, and high groups. Two districts covering 200,000 persons each, were
selected from the three categories using the probability proportional to size. Forty
trained healthcare workers per district performed active surveillance. The
epidemiological data on the incidence and mortality of malaria were collected
from laboratories, doctors, and hospitals in government and private sectors.
They were used to analyze the burden of the disease. The results showed an increase
in malaria incidence, which serves as a gold standard for following the success of the
malaria elimination campaign in India (Kumar et al., 2020).
As a practicing doctor in India, this epidemiological data enables me to
apply policies and interventions with the help of the National Vector Borne Disease
Control Program and National Framework for Malaria Elimination at the state and
district level to control the disease and introduce necessary interventions (Rathore et

2. al., 2017). Initiatives such as mass drug administrations, malaria interventions like
insecticides, educating rural communities about the disease through folk theatre, print
media in their native language, doctor to patient communication (Ghosh et al.,
2006), and workshops conducted at the village level were introduced (Patil, Tiwari,
Ghosh, 2011). Thus, these epidemiological data and the strategies introduced can have
a massive impact on curtailing the disease.
REFERENCES FOR SUMMATIVE DISCUSSION 2
Frerot, M., Lefebvre, A., Aho, S., Callier, P., Astruc, K., Glele, L.S.A. (2018). What is
epidemiology? Changing definitions of epidemiology 1978-2017. PLOS ONE,
13(12):e0208442.
Haveman-Nies, A., Jansen, S.C., van Oers, J.A.M., van ‘t Veer, P. (2011). Epidemiology
in public health practice. American Journal of Epidemiology, 174(7), pp.871-872
Majumder, A., Jena, A. (2018). Epidemiological data play an important role in
healthcare policymaking. Project Guru. Available
from: https://www.projectguru.in/epidemiological-data-play-important-role-healthcare-
policy-making/
Kumar, A, Chaturvedi, HK, Mohanty, AK, Sharma, SK, Malhotra, MS, Pandey, A (2020).
Surveillance based estimation of burden of malaria in India, 2015-2016, 19(156).
Rathore, M.H., Runyon, J., Haque, T. (2017). Emerging infectious diseases. Advances
in Pediatrics, 64, pp.27-71.
Ghosh, SK, Patil, RR, Tiwari, SN, Dash, AP (2006). A community based health
education for bioenvironmental control of malaria through folk theatre in rural India.
Malaria Journal, 5:123.

3. Patil, RR, Tiwari, SN, Ghosh, SK (2011). Assessing perceptions about malaria among
the elected representatives in rural India. Tropical Parasitology, 1(2), pp.83-87.