NEW: Health Promotion and Disease Control Strategies

Content

🔍 Uncover the Depths of Health Promotion and Disease Control:
Explore the intricacies of communicable and non-communicable diseases through a lens of holistic health systems approaches. Our course goes beyond the ordinary, fostering critical discussions on the strengths and weaknesses of health promotion and control programs, with a keen eye on promoting health equity.

🚀 Expert-Guided Exploration:
Delve into a wealth of knowledge curated by a unique cadre of field experts hailing from top universities, research centres and organizations around the world. Stay ahead with the latest innovations as our course continually evolves to embrace emerging trends, including Human-Cantered Approaches and Planetary Health.

🧠 Learning Beyond Boundaries:
Our course transcends the traditional boundaries of disease control, encompassing wider risk factors and systemic health issues. Gain insights into advocacy, human rights perspectives, priority setting, and the design of health promotion and control programs. Sessions culminate in overarching issues crucial for effective strategy formulation.

📚 Rich Learning Units:
The course offers comprehensive learning experience with units covering health promotion, human-cantered healthcare approaches, advocacy, communication skills, and much more, from the prevention of non communicable diseases to the complex landscape of humanitarian health. Engage in interactive lectures, field visits, peer feedback, group work to reinforce your understanding.

🌱 Practical, Competency-Based Education:
Built upon principles that recognize your existing knowledge and experience, our course is problem-oriented and aims at practical applications. Enhance your competencies to implement and evaluate context-specific approaches, ensuring you are well-equipped to address real-world health challenges.

🌐 Connect, Collaborate, and Catalyze Change:
Join a community of like-minded professionals, share experiences, and collaborate on solutions. Be part of a transformative learning environment that fosters not just academic growth but also the development of practical skills essential for navigating the complexities of public health.

This course replaces the former course Control Strategies for Communicable and Non Communicable Diseases  (CCND).

This course is tropEd accredited and can be followed as a stand-alone course or as specialisation course of the Master in Public Health and Health Equity programme.

Learning methods

A great variety of learning methods are used, most importantly:

• Interactive lectures reflecting on your own experiences
• Case studies
• Field visit
• Peer feedback
• Group work and discussions
• Background reading materials

As this course is for participants with some experience already in public health, the educational approach is based on the following principles:

• Takes the knowledge and (working) experience of the participants as a starting point
• Is problem-oriented and is focused on the practical application of the course content
• Is competency based and aims at improving the competencies of participants to implement and evaluate context-specific approaches to address health problems.

Assessment:
For participants who wish to receive a certificate of completion of the course, including the ECTS credits, the assessment is required.
If you do not wish to do the assessment, you can receive a certificate of attendance of the course.

More on our learning methods:
https://www.kit.nl/institute/study/general-information/

Objectives

At the end of this course participants will be able to:

• Compare and contrast the approaches to the health promotion and control of communicable diseases (CDs) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs)
• Analyse and critically discuss strengths and weaknesses of health system strategies to health promotion and control with a special focus on health equity
• Use evidence to formulate and clearly communicate context-appropriate strategies to health promotion or control of a specific health issue or disease

Course Content

The following subjects are reviewed during the course:

• Introduction to Health Promotion and Control Strategies
• People Centred and Integrated Healthcare
• Holistic health approaches: Planetary health and one health
• Health Communication
• UHC: Primary care and reorientation of care
• Collaboration and cooperation across sectoral and transdisciplinary approaches: Health in all policies
• Public Health Leadership and Governance
• Nutrition: lifecycle approach, influence transition on policy making
• Digital Health
• Prevention and control of non-communicable diseases
• Cardiovascular diseases: life style and behaviour change
• Health system approaches for control of vector borne diseases
• Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) focus: integration in broader strategies
• Chronic disease: focus: surveillance and screening
• Community engagement: case study drug resistance
• Activism, Advocacy, and community mobilisation: case study climate change and health
• Expanded programme on Immunisation: Vaccine hesitancy, gaining public trust, and community engagement
• Public health emergencies preparedness and response
• Humanitarian health interventions: rational priority setting, planning for subpopulations, human rights perspectives
• Global Health and commercial determinants of health ethics: Journal Club

Application

Admission criteria

• Academic training or a professional qualification in a relevant field
• Work experience in a related area, including experience in management or planning in developing countries
• Proficiency in spoken and written English
• Computer literacy is essential: we use a virtual learning platform and digital tools in our education and assignments

Application procedure

The application package is due two months before the start of the course.

Please upload your application online. The following documents should be uploaded:

• A one-page letter of motivation
• Copies of your diplomas and grade reports (academic transcripts)
• An up-to-date curriculum vitae and a list of publications if applicable

What we expect from your motivation letter:

Please indicate in your motivation letter why you want to follow this specific course, why you want to follow the course at KIT Amsterdam, what do you expect to learn and how you will apply your newly gained competencies from the course in your work, what kind of benefits will it bring to your future career, etc. Describe a relevant problem you have experienced in the last two years that you would like to discuss during this specific course. Your motivation should be about ½-1 page. Please do not repeat your CV again.

This course can be taken on its own, or as specialisation course of the Master of Science in Public Health and Health Equity (MPH-HE).

Visa requirements

Citizens of most EU or European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries do not need a visa to enter the Netherlands. Visit the Nuffic website for the latest information on visa requirements.

Participants from other countries must obtain a short-stay visa (for up to three months) through the Netherlands embassy or consulate covering the applicant’s country. Applicants will need a letter of admission to the course and proof of sponsorship or sufficient funds to cover the course fee, travel and accommodation costs. Applicants should take into account that in some countries this procedure can take several months.

European Credit

The European Credit Transfer System (EC) facilitates the transfer of course credits between different institutions of the same academic level. A course comprising 28 hours of formal teaching and private study is equivalent to one EC credit point.

Insurance requirements

Course participants and accompanying dependents are required by Dutch law to have health, accident and third party insurance. Unless their current insurance policy covers their stay abroad, participants must insure themselves and their dependents in the Netherlands. Dutch insurance companies offer reasonable rates to foreign students. KIT can assist with arranging insurance.

Accreditation

This course is also accredited for the Master of Science in Public Health and Health Equity, organised by KIT Institute and tropEd, a network of European institutions for higher education in international health.

Funding

The arrangement of financial support to cover all study costs is the responsibility of the applicant. KIT does not offer financial support or scholarships.

• Up-to-date approach to complex public health issues
• Practice-oriented
• Exchange between disciplines
• Interactive Education
• Development of personal and professional competencies
• Network building

• Participants from diverse backgrounds and countries
• Personal tutoring
• Teaching by highly qualified specialists
• Positively reviewed by tropEd
• KIT: international centre of excellence in international health and development
• Accredited by NVAO