Applied Epidemiology & Field Epidemiological Methods Training Workshop

Course overview

The Applied Epidemiology & Field Epidemiological Methods Training Workshop equips public health professionals, epidemiologists, disease surveillance officers and healthcare practitioners with practical skills for investigating disease occurrence, identifying risk factors, monitoring population health and responding to public health emergencies. The training covers epidemiological study designs, disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, case definition development, field data collection, descriptive and analytical epidemiology, epidemiological indicators, risk assessment and interpretation of field investigation findings. Participants learn to analyse person, place and time patterns, calculate disease frequency and association measures, conduct field investigations, evaluate public health interventions and communicate findings through epidemiological reports. The course emphasises practical case studies, evidence-based decision-making, ethical fieldwork and coordination with relevant public health authorities.

The Applied Epidemiology & Field Epidemiological Methods Training Workshop develops practical skills in disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, epidemiological analysis and public health response. Participants learn to develop case definitions, collect field data, analyse disease patterns, calculate epidemiological indicators, investigate risk factors and prepare outbreak investigation reports. The course covers descriptive and analytical epidemiology, infectious disease transmission, surveillance system assessment, contact tracing, risk communication and outbreak response coordination. Designed for public health professionals, epidemiologists, disease surveillance officers and healthcare practitioners, the workshop strengthens field investigation capacity and evidence-based decision-making for disease prevention, outbreak control and population health protection.

Course objectives

• Apply epidemiological principles and methods to investigate health events and assess population health risks.
• Prepare epidemiological investigation reports and communicate findings to public health authorities, communities and other stakeholders.
• Develop, implement and evaluate disease surveillance systems and outbreak response activities.
• Apply descriptive and analytical epidemiological methods to investigate disease transmission and determinants.
• Analyse disease distribution by person, place and time to identify trends, clusters and potential risk factors.
• Calculate and interpret incidence, prevalence, attack rates, mortality rates and measures of association.
• Develop case definitions, conduct case finding and establish line lists during disease outbreaks.
• Design and implement field epidemiological investigations using appropriate study designs and sampling approaches.

Who should attend

Course content

• Module 1: Foundations of Applied Epidemiology Principles and scope of epidemiology, distribution and determinants of disease, epidemiological reasoning, population health measures, natural history of disease, modes of transmission, host-agent-environment
• Module 2: Epidemiological Measures and Disease Indicators Incidence and prevalence, cumulative incidence and incidence rates, attack rates and secondary attack rates, mortality and case fatality rates, risk ratios, rate ratios, odds ratios, attributable r
• Module 3: Field Epidemiological Study Designs Cross-sectional studies, cohort studies, case-control studies, ecological studies, descriptive investigations, outbreak investigation designs, intervention studies, sampling methods, selection of study populat
• Module 4: Descriptive Epidemiology and Disease Pattern Analysis Person, place and time analysis, epidemic curves, spot maps, disease distribution tables, seasonal patterns, demographic comparisons, identifying unusual disease trends, interpreting geograph
• Module 5: Disease Surveillance Systems and Event Detection Routine and sentinel surveillance, indicator-based surveillance, event-based surveillance, syndromic surveillance, case reporting systems, community-based surveillance, laboratory-supported survei
• Module 6: Outbreak Detection and Field Investigation Recognising potential outbreaks, verifying reported events, confirming diagnoses with appropriate experts, establishing outbreak investigation teams, developing case definitions, active case finding, ca
• Module 7: Field Data Collection and Management Developing questionnaires and investigation forms, interviewing cases and contacts, household and community investigations, exposure history collection, sampling strategies, electronic field data collection,
• Module 8: Analytical Epidemiology and Risk Factor Investigation Developing epidemiological hypotheses, selecting controls, exposure assessment, constructing two-by-two tables, calculating risk ratios and odds ratios, assessing associations, confounding an
• Module 9: Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Transmission Dynamics Transmission routes, incubation and infectious periods, contact tracing, chains of transmission, reproductive number concepts, superspreading events, transmission settings, vaccination an
• Module 10: Laboratory Epidemiology and Diagnostic Investigation Role of laboratories in field investigations, specimen collection and transport principles, laboratory confirmation, sensitivity and specificity, positive and negative predictive values, diag
• Module 11: Environmental, Occupational and Zoonotic Epidemiology Waterborne and foodborne disease investigations, environmental exposure assessment, occupational health risks, zoonotic disease surveillance, One Health principles, vector-borne disease inve
• Module 12: Field Epidemiology for Priority Public Health Events Investigation of diarrhoeal disease outbreaks, respiratory disease events, vaccine-preventable diseases, vector-borne disease events, foodborne illness, healthcare-associated infections, emer
• Module 13: Statistical Analysis and Epidemiological Software Data coding and cleaning, descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, calculating epidemiological measures, analysing outbreak line lists, developing epidemic curves, preparing field investigation
• Module 14: Public Health Response, Risk Communication and Coordination Immediate control measures, outbreak response planning, stakeholder coordination, incident management principles, community engagement, risk communication, communicating uncertainty, c
• Module 15: Field Investigation Reporting and Capstone Exercise Preparing field investigation protocols, documenting methods and findings, summarising descriptive and analytical results, developing evidence-based recommendations, preparing outbreak investi

General notes

• Practical Exercises and Expected Outputs Participants will undertake simulated or supervised practical exercises based on public health scenarios and appropriate sample datasets. Epidemiological indicator exercise — incidence, prevalence and mortality calculations, descriptive analysis exercise — person-place-time summary and epidemic curve, case definition exercise — standardised case definition and classification criteria, outbreak investigation simulation — investigation checklist and response timeline, line-list development exercise — structured outbreak case database, field questionnaire exercise — data collection instrument, risk factor analysis exercise — two-by-two table and measures of association, contact tracing exercise — contact follow-up register, surveillance assessment exercise — surveillance performance review, diagnostic testing exercise — interpretation of sensitivity and specificity, environmental investigation exercise — exposure assessment checklist, risk communication exercise — public health communication brief, outbreak response exercise — prioritised control action plan, capstone investigation — complete outbreak investigation report with findings and recommendations.
• Field Epidemiology Training, Outbreak Investigation Course, Disease Surveillance Training, Applied Epidemiological Methods, Epidemiology Workshop, Public Health Investigation Training, Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Epidemiological Data Analysis, Outbreak Response Training, Field Data Collection for Public Health.

Frequently asked questions

Schedule & fees