LECTURE NOTES
For Environmental and Occupational Health Students
Epidemiology
Yigzaw Kebede
University of Gondar
In collaboration with the Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative, The Carter Center,
the Ethiopia Ministry of Health, and the Ethiopia Ministry of Education
2004
, Funded under USAID Cooperative Agreement No. 663-A-00-00-0358-00.
Produced in collaboration with the Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative, The Carter
Center, the Ethiopia Ministry of Health, and the Ethiopia Ministry of Education.
Important Guidelines for Printing and Photocopying
Limited permission is granted free of charge to print or photocopy all pages of this
publication for educational, not-for-profit use by health care workers, students or
faculty. All copies must retain all author credits and copyright notices included in the
original document. Under no circumstances is it permissible to sell or distribute on a
commercial basis, or to claim authorship of, copies of material reproduced from this
publication.
©2004 by Yigzaw Kebede
All rights reserved. Except as expressly provided above, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without written permission of the author or authors.
This material is intended for educational use only by practicing health care workers or
students and faculty in a health care field.
, Acknowledgements
The development of this lecture note for training Health Extension
workers is an arduous assignment for Dr. Yigzaw Kebede at Gondar
University.
Essentially, it required the consolidation and merging of existing in
depth training materials, examination of Health Extension Package
manuals and the Curriculum.
Recognizing the importance of and the need for the preparation of the
lecture note for the Training of Health Extension workers THE
CARTER CENTER (TCC) ETHIOPIA PUBLIC HEALTH TRAINING
INITIATIVE (EPHTI) facilitated the task for Gondar University to write
the lecture note in consultation with the Health Extension
Coordinating Office of the Federal Ministry of Health.
Finally the Federal Ministry of Health would like to express special
words of gratitude for those who contributed and endeavored to the
development of this lecture note and to TCC/USAID for the technical
and financial support.
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i
, Table of Contents
Acknowledgement .................................................. ii
Introduction ............................................................ 1
UNIT ONE: Introduction to Epidemiology .......... 1
Objectives ................................................... 2
Definition .................................................... 2
History of Epidemiology .............................. 4
Purpose/Use of Epidemiology .................... 5
Exercise ...................................................... 6
UNIT TWO: Disease Causation ............................. 7
Objective ..................................................... 7
Definition ..................................................... 7
Causes of disease ...................................... 7
Exercise .................................................... 10
UNIT THREE: Levels of prevention ................... 11
Objectives ................................................... 11
Natural history of disease ......................... 11
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ii
For Environmental and Occupational Health Students
Epidemiology
Yigzaw Kebede
University of Gondar
In collaboration with the Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative, The Carter Center,
the Ethiopia Ministry of Health, and the Ethiopia Ministry of Education
2004
, Funded under USAID Cooperative Agreement No. 663-A-00-00-0358-00.
Produced in collaboration with the Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative, The Carter
Center, the Ethiopia Ministry of Health, and the Ethiopia Ministry of Education.
Important Guidelines for Printing and Photocopying
Limited permission is granted free of charge to print or photocopy all pages of this
publication for educational, not-for-profit use by health care workers, students or
faculty. All copies must retain all author credits and copyright notices included in the
original document. Under no circumstances is it permissible to sell or distribute on a
commercial basis, or to claim authorship of, copies of material reproduced from this
publication.
©2004 by Yigzaw Kebede
All rights reserved. Except as expressly provided above, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without written permission of the author or authors.
This material is intended for educational use only by practicing health care workers or
students and faculty in a health care field.
, Acknowledgements
The development of this lecture note for training Health Extension
workers is an arduous assignment for Dr. Yigzaw Kebede at Gondar
University.
Essentially, it required the consolidation and merging of existing in
depth training materials, examination of Health Extension Package
manuals and the Curriculum.
Recognizing the importance of and the need for the preparation of the
lecture note for the Training of Health Extension workers THE
CARTER CENTER (TCC) ETHIOPIA PUBLIC HEALTH TRAINING
INITIATIVE (EPHTI) facilitated the task for Gondar University to write
the lecture note in consultation with the Health Extension
Coordinating Office of the Federal Ministry of Health.
Finally the Federal Ministry of Health would like to express special
words of gratitude for those who contributed and endeavored to the
development of this lecture note and to TCC/USAID for the technical
and financial support.
i
i
, Table of Contents
Acknowledgement .................................................. ii
Introduction ............................................................ 1
UNIT ONE: Introduction to Epidemiology .......... 1
Objectives ................................................... 2
Definition .................................................... 2
History of Epidemiology .............................. 4
Purpose/Use of Epidemiology .................... 5
Exercise ...................................................... 6
UNIT TWO: Disease Causation ............................. 7
Objective ..................................................... 7
Definition ..................................................... 7
Causes of disease ...................................... 7
Exercise .................................................... 10
UNIT THREE: Levels of prevention ................... 11
Objectives ................................................... 11
Natural history of disease ......................... 11
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