Communicable and non-communicable diseases in specific populations are influenced by varying social, political and economic factors. How these factors affect and impact a disease in a specific population will differ depending on the country and location in which they occur. Often it is a combination of factors that shapes the course of the disease in a population.
For example, when looking at HIV in South Africa, this disease has been influenced by social stigma and poor access to antiretroviral drugs (social factors), poor political will and governance on the issue (political factors) and poor public health expenditure on the condition (economic factor).
Other examples of factors that shape disease include:
- Social (e.g. awareness, inequalities, education, income, wealth, poverty, housing, occupation, social support)
- Political (e.g. political climate, policy, policies on welfare, universal healthcare, legislation, law)
- Economic (e.g. income, health and public health expenditure, economic status such as productivity/growth)
You are asked to identify a major communicable or non-communicable disease/condition in a specific population (e.g. Diabetes in Fiji, Whooping cough in Australia, Depression in the elderly in India). Do not choose HIV/AIDS as your chosen disease.
Please use the detailed information below and the rubrics to guide all parts of this assessment.
Description: Oral Presentation & Written Report
Part A: Oral Presentation (20%)
You are asked to prepare and deliver a 5-minute oral presentation that informs a public/lay audience about how ONE factor has affected/is affecting your chosen disease and population.
Do not use more than 5 slides in your presentation. A sixth slide should contain your references. Marks will be deducted if you: go over time, do not make good use of the 5 minutes allocation, do not have references provided.
Provide only one introduction slide that briefly describes your chosen disease and population. You should spend no more that 1-minute discussing this.
The focus of this presentation is on organisation and clear communication of ideas. Please find more information in the rubric for this assessment which you are encouraged to use as a guide for the development of your presentation.
You are required to create your presentation using PowerPoint and to record narration to each slide. You are encouraged to use the webcam function. Please view the following resources for how to record narration to your slides:
You will then need to submit this file to the Part A iLearn Dropbox.
Part B: Written Report (55%)
You are asked to produce a written report up to 2,000 words +/- 10% that explores how TWO factors have affected / are affecting the disease.
Include in your report:
- A brief introduction to the disease and population of concern, including statistics on the prevalence of the disease in this population and comparison to data at a global level
- Clearly describe how two factors have affected/are affecting the disease in this population. Include relevant statistics/epidemiological data to support your report
- Commentary on the prioritisation of the disease as a public health issue for your population and comparison to its prioritisation at a global level
- Appropriate references using the Vancouver citation style
- A word count at the top of your submitted assessment
- A title and subheadings
It is OK to choose two social structures or two political structures for example.
Please submit to the Part B iLearn DropBox.
Part C (10%) – Public Health Ethics component
In a separate document, you are asked to write a short essay of 500 words +/- 10% that discusses what you’ve reported on in Part B in relation to public health ethics.
Please include a heading at the top of your Part C submission that indicates your chosen disease, population and names your chosen two factors. Other than this you do not need to include any of the same information that appears in your Part B report.
Include in your essay:
- A brief introduction to the main interventions (up to three) that are currently being used to prevent and/or treat the disease/issue in the population you have chosen
- An ethical analysis of the intervention(s) using one of the public health ethics frameworks introduced in class. You are free to choose any of the four frameworks discussed in the fourth ethics lecture (Week 7), whichever one is appropriate
- Appropriate references using the Vancouver citation style
- A word count at the top of your submitted assessment
