Infectious Disease Outbreak: A Public Health Response

1. Sheikh Mohamed Al-Thani, MD
2. Sohaila Cheema, MBBS MPH
3. Ravinder Mamtani, MD
4. Mohamud A. Verjee, BSc (Hons), MBChB, DRCOG, CCFP, FCFP

1. Institute for Population Health

1. Department of Public Health, Ministry of Public Health-Qatar and IPH, Weill Cornell Medicine - Online/Self-Study/ Lectures

1. Medicine or Pediatric Clerkship. When appropriate, the course director may waive this requirement.

This four-week elective course, available to medical students, provides the knowledge and skills required to control an infectious disease outbreak. The elective will focus on the public health approach in controlling epidemics and pandemics such COVID19 and Influenza.

This course will lay emphasis on a) surveillance b) epidemiological concepts c) outbreak investigation skills d) outbreak prevention and control, and e) risk communication.  This course is delivered by lectures (synchronous and asynchronous learning), and by providing practical in-person experience in the Department of Public Health, Ministry of Public Health-Qatar.  The in-person experience requires students to visit the Department of Public Health,  Ministry of Public Health-Qatar bi-weekly for three hours to observe, interact and understand how to manage outbreaks.  Small group interactive discussions will also be incorporated when necessary.

The students will be evaluated on attendance, participation in course activities and the written reflection paper. The reflection paper  should discuss a preapproved topic related to the course objectives and content. In developing this course, the Institute for Population Health, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar acknowledges and appreciates the support received from the Department of Public Health, Ministry of Public Health-Qatar.

Course objectives:

1. Define epidemiological concepts related to outbreaks
2. List the steps in outbreak investigation
3. Discuss outbreak prevention and management