At the end of this presentation the attendant is expected to:
Define Epidemiology.
Identify the main issues in the definition.
Discuss the uses of Epidemiology.
2. At the end of this presentation the attendant is
expected to:
Define Epidemiology.
Identify the main issues in the definition.
Discuss the uses of Epidemiology.
4. “Father of medicine”
Who in his Observations on Airs,
Water and Places first suggested
that:
human disease might be related
to man’s environment.
Hippocrates
(BC 460-377)
5. An acute observervation of
natural history of disease,
Hippocrates recognised
epidemics as mass
phenomena.
16. - The risk of death from cholera was
more than 5 times higher in districts
served only by the Southwark and
Vauxhall Company than in those
served only by the Lambeth
Company.
19. Epidemiology is derived from the Greek,
Epi: On or upon.
Demos: people.
Logos : the study of
Epidemiology is the basic
science
of Public Health
20. Epidemiology has been defined by John M
Last in 1988 as:
“ The study of the distribution and
determinants of health related states or
events in specified populations, and the
application of this study to the control of
health problems”
21. Two main areas are involved in the
Previous definition:
I. Study of the distribution of disease or
health
status in the human population
Descriptive Epidemiology
Magnitude +
Trend
s
of
Health related
events
Measure
22. II. study of the determinants or
underlying causes of disease.
Analytical Epidemiology
Two main areas are involved in the
Previous definition:
F A C T O R
24. Broadly, epidemiology has three main
aims:
I. To describe the
distribution and
size of disease
problems in
human
populations.
25. Broadly, epidemiology has three main
aims:
II. To identify
aetiological
factors (or risk
factors) in the
pathogenesis
of disease.
26. III. To provide the data essential to:
Broadly, epidemiology has three main
aims:
Planning Implementatio
n
Evaluation
Health services ( Prevention , control and
treatment of disease)
• Setting up of priorities among those
services